Girolamo Manfrin (1742 – 1801) was a

Dalmatian Italian Dalmatian Italians (; ) are the historical Italian national minority living in the region of Dalmatia, now part of Croatia and Montenegro. Historically, Italian language-speaking Dalmatians accounted for 12.5% of population in 1865, 5.8% in 18 ...

entrepreneur active in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

in the 18th century. He was born in Zara (today

Zadar Zadar ( , ), historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian, ; see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

) in the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

. His origins are unclear. V. Spreti traced his line back to a Manfredo created count in 1433. He appeared in Venice for the first time in the 1760s. He struggled in Venice in the beginning, ending up in jail after he refused to reveal (as it was customary) the names of the investors of the tender for conducting Venice's tobacco trade, which he had won. He spent more than a year in jail. He was later released and sent to his native Zara. He again attempted to engage in the

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

trade, winning a second tender. Later he became involved also in manufacturing. In 1788 he was able to buy the Palazzo Venier in Cannareggio. He had a famous art collection comprising the Portrait of Johannes Wtenbogaert by

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

, today in the

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the S ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

.Rijksmuseum
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Sources

* Martina Frank, Girolamo Manfrin, in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, vol. 68, Roma, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 2007. URL consultato l'11 giugno 2013. * Fonti e Bibl.: Arch. di Stato di Venezia, Senato, Rettori, filza 372, febbraio 1786; * R. Tolomeo, Il commercio e il contrabbando del tobacco tra Serenissima e Levante, in Mercanti e viaggiatori per le vie del mondo, a cura di G. Motta, Milano 2000, pp. 275–288; * V. Spreti, Enc. storico-nobiliare italiana, Appendice, II, pp. 251–253. M. Frank

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manfrin, Girolamo 1742 births 1801 deaths People from Zadar Italian businesspeople Dalmatian Italians Republic of Venice people