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Beautifully dressed in the Ottoman style, an English merchant trader exudes independence and sophistication, poised at the vanguard of international trade.

A virtuoso portrayal of the powerful merchant class dominating 18th century trade between England and the Middle East, this grandly attired gentleman, dashingly posed in fur-trim and luxuriant moustache, projects a cultured, well-travelled confidence. His sumptuous clothes – the lavish crimson-dyed gown and elegant turban – receive spectacular treatment from Florentine portraitist Andrea Soldi, whose bold use of colour and dexterous sartorial renderings helped to secure his success as a society portraitist, soon after arriving in London around 1736.

Spices, Silk & Wool
Many of Soldi’s patrons were representatives of the rich Levant trading houses who were living and working in Aleppo, Syria’s ancient trading capital and the most important outpost of the London-based Levant Company. Established in 1581, the company had a monopoly on trade between England and the Ottoman Empire: English woollen broadcloth was a major commodity, bartered chiefly for silk from Antioch, Tripoli, Beirut and Persia, as well as spices, carpets, mohair yarn and other exotic goods. The English merchants of Aleppo adopted Ottoman dress and established trading relationships with local traders; some hunted, dined and visited archaeological sites together in the manner of the Grand Tours under way across the Mediterranean.

Turbans & Periwigs
Various accounts of English merchants adopting Turkish dress survive: fur vests, long buttoned silk waistcoats called dolemans, wide trousers or shacksheers and the caps and sashes of turbans, as well as Western hats, wigs and coats. Although Soldi’s sitter has yet to be firmly identified, the Aleppo merchant Richard Salwey is a likely candidate, established by his period in the city and another portrait commissioned from Soldi (now in a private collection).

Salwey had a distinguished Levant Company pedigree; his grandfather had been appointed Ambassador to Constantinople in 1654, while both his uncles and father had been Levant merchants. His family represented a period of transition between ‘merchant adventurers’, who represented the interests of what could be described an early form of multinational corporation, and the emerging dominance of British imperial power, which led to an opening up of the region to trade and travel – and broke the monopoly on which their business relied.