Henry Wotton (1568-1639) was a delightful man – cultured and cosmopolitan, sought-after as a friend by poets, philosophers and kings, a lover of art and architecture and music, and – above all – of Venice.  When King James VI and I offered him the choice of the grander embassies in Madrid or Paris, he asked for Venice instead, and lived there for most of twenty years, writing about Palladio, collecting Murano glass, duck-shooting on the Lagoon, conducting scientific experiments and acting as adviser and sponsor to English collectors who, under his guidance, came to buy paintings of the Venetian school. His most famous poem describes Wotton’s  idea of happiness – a life of independence, untrammelled by ‘another’s will’.  In this talk acclaimed author, Lucy Hughes-Hallett, explains how he went his own way, wrote about what he loved, and taught a whole generation of English to share his enthusiasm for the wonders Venice had to offer.