Portrait bust of Lady Augusta Hervey (1798-1880), later Lady Augusta Seymour
Lorenzo Bartolini (Vernio, Tuscany 1777 – Florence 1850)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
1818 - 1819
Materials
Marble
Measurements
38 x 30 cm
Place of origin
Florence
Order this imageCollection
Ickworth, Suffolk
NT 852215
Summary
Sculpture, marble; Portrait bust of Lady Augusta Hervey, later Lady Augusta Seymour (1798-1880); Lorenzo Bartolini (1777-1850); Florence, c. 1818-19. One of a group of portraits of members of the Hervey family commissioned from the sculptor Lorenzo Bartolini during a sojourn in Florence in 1818 or 1819. During the years of peace in Europe following the battle of Waterloo and the final defeat of Napoleon, the British travelled to the Continent in large numbers. Most of the grander visitors to Florence at this time would commission their portraits from Bartolini, renowned for his sensitivity as a portrait sculptor. Also at Ickworth is a full-size version by Bartolini of this portrait of Augusta Hervey, as well as a bust of her mother, Elizabeth Albana Upton.
Full description
A small-scale version of a portrait bust in marble depicting Lady Augusta Elizabeth Wilhemina Hervey, by Lorenzo Bartolini. The sitter is shown with her head turned slightly to her right, her hair parted at the centre and drawn back over her head, tied at the top of the head into a large single tail and with a series of ringlets. She wears a dress reflecting the Greek garment known as a chiton, fastened with button-like clasps at each shoulder, whilst around the lower part of the bust a shawl twists and wraps around the sitter’s body. Mounted on a waisted marble socle. This is one of a group of portrait busts of members of the Hervey family commissioned by Frederick William Hervey, 5th Earl and 1st Marquess of Bristol (1769-1859) during a stay in Florence in 1818-19, from the sculptor Lorenzo Bartolini. Six busts are currently known, of three sitters: Lord Bristol, now at Felbrigg (NT 1401967); his wife Elizabeth Albana Upton, Marchioness of Bristol (1775-1844) in three busts, one sold at auction in 1987, another at Bignor Park and the other at Ickworth (NT 852210); two busts of Lady Augusta Hervey, both at Ickworth, a full-size portrait (NT 852223) and the present smaller version. Lady Augusta Hervey was the eldest of the nine children of Frederick William Hervey, later 5th Earl and 1st Marquess of Bristol (1769-1859) and his wife Elizabeth Albana Upton, Marchioness of Bristol (1775-1844). Her younger brother Frederick William (1800-1864) would become 2nd Marquess of Bristol on his father’s death. After the Hervey family had in 1821 returned from its four-year long Continental sojourn, Lady Augusta appears from time to time in newspaper reports of balls and other social events, often in the company of her parents and her sister Lady Georgina (for example, Bury and Norwich Post, 16 October 1822). She must though have begun to resign herself to life as a spinster when in 1832, at the age of 34, she married Frederick Charles William Seymour (1797-1856), henceforth being styled Lady Augusta Seymour. The couple had six children and lived in Brighton from 1832 to 1847, at the Hervey house in Sussex Square. It was not uncommon for Bartolini to be asked by clients to make multiple versions of portrait busts, and sometimes at different scales. Both versions of the bust of Augusta Hervey capture very well the quiet youthful beauty of a young woman of around twenty, with her delicate profile and long swan neck, with a loose curl falling on the nape of her neck. For more information on the busts and on Lorenzo Bartolini, see NT 852223. Jeremy Warren July 2025
Provenance
Commissioned by Lord Frederick William Hervey, 5th Earl and later 1st Marquess of Bristol (1769-1859), 1818-19; by descent; acquired through the National Land Fund and transferred to the National Trust in 1956.
Makers and roles
Lorenzo Bartolini (Vernio, Tuscany 1777 – Florence 1850), sculptor