(1736 - 1809), yst. s. of Sir John Lister Kaye of Kirkheaton, Yorks; BNC Oxf. 1754; chapl. to the King 1766; Dean of Lincoln 1783; suc. bro. 1789 as 6th Bt.
1763 - 4 [Geneva Sep. 1763] Milan, Pavia, Piacenza, Parma, Reggio, Modena, Cento, Bologna (by 25 Oct.), Florence (by 10 Nov. - ), Rome (by 24 Dec. 1763), Naples (by 4 Jan. 1764), Rome (by 15 Apr. - 14 May), Venice [Vienna Jul.]
Kaye had already travelled in Holland, Germany, France and Switzerland before he came to Italy in late September/early October 1763. His letters home (Kaye letters MSS) provide his itinerary. He wrote from Bologna on 25 October saying that he had visited Milan, the Borromean Islands, Pavia, Piacenza, Reggio and Modena; he had met Robert Strange, whose copies of Guercino he much admired, and had been with him to Cento, Guercino's birthplace; Kaye confessed to his aunt that he had 'too much dangling' at Milan, where the Venetian minister had introduced him to nine of the first women of the place; 'happy I shall be to assume my Tonsure again: the Impositions of a few, and the Ignorance of the other ministers of this Church are sufficient to prejudice every young Fellow against Priests of all persuasions'. Kaye intended staying a month in Florence and then proceeding via Siena to Rome and Naples. James Martin saw him in Florence on 10 November, and they met again in Rome on 24 December and in Naples on 4 January 1764.1 On 15 April Kaye wrote from Rome: he had met the Duke of York and had acquired some 'very Valuable Things for a Trifle', including 'a Sardonyx of the Mask of a Bacchanal' bought for a sequin from a gardener he met at Caracalla's Baths; 'it has since been Sett, and is become so valuable, that Garrick offer'd me his Picture by the first hand in Italy for it. The Bargain was politely struck on both sides ... the Picture which is a very fine one after twelve sittings of two hours and a half each is to have the famous Edition of Terence in the Vatican open with its drawings of antique masks, alluding both to the character, and the circumstances of the giver and the Gift'. Kaye thus acquired Batoni's Garrick, now in the Ashmolean Museum (Clark/Bowron 266). James Martin last saw Kaye in Rome on 6 and 14 May 1764,1 and Kaye's next letter was from Vienna on 18 July 1764, saying he had passed through Venice.
1. Martin jnl.MSS.