Francesco Cornaro
1 portrait by Charles D'Agar
© National Portrait Gallery, London
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Francesco Cornaro
by John Smith, after Charles D'Agar
mezzotint, 1706
13 5/8 in. x 9 7/8 in. (347 mm x 251 mm) plate size; 14 3/8 in. x 10 3/8 in. (365 mm x 265 mm) paper size
Purchased, 1944
Reference Collection
NPG D11666
Sitterback to top
- Francesco Cornaro (active 1705-1709), Ambassador. Sitter associated with 2 portraits.
Artistsback to top
- Charles D'Agar (1669-1723), Portrait painter. Artist or producer associated with 18 portraits.
- John Smith (1652-1743), Engraver. Artist or producer associated with 1181 portraits, Sitter in 4 portraits.
Events of 1706back to top
Current affairs
The Regency Bill passes in Parliament. John Somers, Baron Somers, and Thomas Wharton, Marquess of Wharton, as prominent supporters of the Protestant succession, are instrumental in formulating legislation which provide for an emergency Council of Sate to convene upon the death of Queen Anne, pending arrival of the Hanoverian successor.Art and science
Publication of Horae lyricae, by hymn writer Isaac Watts. A dissenting minister, Watts is recognised as the 'Father of English Hymnody'.Publication of Synopsis Palmariorum Matheseos, a mathematical guide for beginners by mathematician William Jones.
Thomas Twining opens a tea room in London.
International
Allied forces under Commander-in-chief, John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, defeat Louis XIV's army at the Battle of Ramillies. The most successful campaign in Marlborough's career, victory at Ramillies and a string of subsequent military successes for the allies establishes their control of the Southern Netherlands.Comments back to top
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Aleida Offerhaus
14 December 2021, 19:37
Douglas Anderson, professor of English and Digital Literacies in the Interdisciplinary Studies Department at Medaille College in Buffalo, New York, U.S., and, since 2016, guest researcher at the Huygens Instituut voor Nederlands Geschiedenis (Huygens Institute for Netherlands History) in Amsterdam uncovered the following facts about Cornaro's life: Francesco Cornaro or Corner lived from 1670 till 1734. He was the Venetian Ambassador in London from 1705 to 1709. He was elected a member of the Royal Society on November 30, 1708.
In 1705, shortly after Corner had finished a two-month stay in den Haag, he visited Antoni van Leeuwenhoek in Delft and presented him with a coat of arms (https://lensonleeuwenhoek.net/content/francesco-corner-bio)
After returning to Venice Cornaro kept up a steady 'commercium botanicum' (plant exchange) with Herman Boerhaave, starting in 1715 till 1724 (Margreeth Wesseling, ' Boerhaave Botanicus', Leiden, Primavera Pers, 2019)
In Venice he was head of the council of ten (a Venetian council). He was married to Elisabetta Civran di Giovanni (https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/giovanni-corner_res-473daa0a-87eb-11dc-8e9d-0016357eee51_%28Dizionario-Biografico%29/)