Edward Solly was an English merchant living in Berlin, who amassed an unprecedented collection of Italian Trecento and Quattrocento paintings and outstanding examples of Early Netherlandish painting, at a time when those schools were still largely unappreciated. In 1821, following negotiations by his associate Benjamin Wegner, Solly sold his collection of about 3000 works to the Prussian king; 677 of them formed a core of the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. Solly acquired a second collection during his years in London after 1821. Solly is also credited for having undertaken a
perilous journey to deliver the first news of Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Leipzig to the English.
Portrait of Edward Solly, (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin)
Portrait of a Young Girl, Petrus Christus
Raphael's Solly Madonna
Jacob Benjamin Wegner was a Norwegian business magnate, estate owner and timber merchant.
Benjamin Wegner
His wife Henriette Seyler (1805–75), daughter of Berenberg Bank co-owner L.E. Seyler, drawn by her sister Molly in 1827
Cobalt blue, made from cobalt, a precious metal that was more expensive than silver
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