Jakob Ludwig Salomon Bartholdy (13 May 1779 – 27 July 1825) was aPrussian diplomat and art patron.
He was bornJakob Salomon inBerlin ofJewish parentage. His father was Levin Jakob Salomon and his mother was Bella Salomon, néeBella Itzig. Jakob was educated at theUniversity of Halle. He took the additional surnameBartholdy from a property owned by his family on his conversion toReformed Christianity.
Bartholdy fought in the Austrian army againstNapoleon, afterward entered the diplomatic service of Prussia, and accompanied the Allied armies toParis in 1814, whence he was dispatched toRome in the following year as Prussian Consul-General. He was a great patron of the arts. The revival offresco painting amongst young German artists in Italy was due largely to his patronage. A group of artists composed ofJohann Friedrich Overbeck,Peter von Cornelius,Philipp Veit, andFriedrich Wilhelm Schadow decorated a room of his palace with frescoes. His valuable collection of antiques was bought for the Berlin Museum of Art, while the frescos of his mansion at Rome, the so-calledCasa Zuccari, were transferred byStefano Bardini in 1886-87 to theBerlin National Gallery.[1]
He is buried in theProtestant Cemetery, Rome.[2]
Bartholdy’s sisterLea Salomon was married toAbraham Mendelssohn, whom Bartholdy persuaded to adopt his own “Christian” surname — to differentiate the family from its connection with Abraham's father, the philosopherMoses Mendelssohn. Their son and Bartholdy’s nephew; the composerFelix Mendelssohn would carry on the name Bartholdy surname as would his brother Paul Mendelssohn.
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