Bartolomeo della Nave

[1] Many of the artworks in his collection are known from an inventory dated 1636, which is often also assumed to be his year of death; with others this is uncertain, as they were bought in Venice for Hamilton, but their previous ownership by della Nave is only a strong presumption.

[2] Most of della Nave's collection was bought for Hamilton (then still a Marquess) in 1636–38; he was one of the great collectors of the period in Britain.

Hamilton's brother-in-law, Basil Feilding, 2nd Earl of Denbigh (as he later became) was English ambassador to Venice, and helped to arrange the purchase.

Hamilton, who was a Royalist commander in the English Civil War, was executed in 1649 after losing the Battle of Preston to Oliver Cromwell.

One painting that did not reach Vienna was The Death of Actaeon by Titian (National Gallery, London), which the archduke gave to Queen Christina of Sweden about 1656, when she was staying in Antwerp.