Il mercato artistico nel carteggio fra Michelangelo Gualandi e Charles Lock Eastlake (1855-1865): un’introduzione

Born in Bologna in the late XIX century, Michelangelo Gualandi was trained as a tradesman. Studying art as a self-taught, he was able to establish himself as an art amateur and as a learned man, without however really ever abandoning his involvement in art trade. From 1855 he was agent of Charles Lock Eastlake, the first director of the National Gallery, and collaborated with him in the acquisition of paintings until the death of the Englishman, in 1865. Based on the recently rediscovered correspondence between Eastlake, other English connoisseurs and Gualandi, this article presents brand new information we can gain from the correspondence on both successful and failed purchases. Particular attention is paid to the aspects related to the modalities through which the sales took place.