Lord John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey of Ickworth, PC, MP (1696-1743)
John Fayram (fl. 1723 - 1743)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1737
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1270 x 1016 mm (50 x 40 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Ickworth, Suffolk
NT 851716
Caption
This is probably the copy for which the artist Fayram was paid in 1737, of his own original painted in 1728 which would have lacked the somewhat awkwardly added key of Hervey’s office as Vice-Chamberlain of the Royal Household (1730-40).
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Lord John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey of Ickworth, PC, MP (1696-1743) by John Fayram (active c.1713–d.1744), circa 1737. A three-quarter-length portrait of a young man, turned slightly to the right, gazing at the spectator, his left arm resting on a pedestal, right hand on hip, wearing pale blue coat, white shirt, white cravat and white cuffs showing, white satin cloak held to hip, with vice-chamberlain’s gold key; shoulder-length light grey powdered hair, left arm leaning on light brown urn. Darkish brown background. Companion portrait to Lady Hervey by Fayram, NT 851717. Lord Hervey was appointed Vice Chamberlain to George II in 1730, and, as he is shown here with the key of office, one would expect the portrait to have been painted not long afterwards. The position of the key, however, is at one and the same time unnatural yet conspicuous, whilst the sitter looks much younger than 34. There is no sign of it having been physically added to a pre-existing picture, so it may have been an addition included in the copy of 1737 of the portrait of 1728 that would have been without it.
Provenance
A ‘half-length’ [i.e. three-quarter-length] portrait of Lord Hervey by Fayram was one of those paid for by John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol (1665-1751) in 1728; a copy was made in the same year for Winnington [who features in the Hogarth Hervey Conversation-Piece] and another - possibly this painting - was paid for in 1737; thence by descent, until the death of the 3rd Marquess (1834-1907), when inventoried and on the death of the 4th Marquess (1863-1951), valued for probate; accepted in lieu of tax by HM Treasury, and transferred to the National Trust in 1956.
Credit line
Ickworth, The Bristol Collection (acquired through the National Land Fund and transferred to The National Trust in 1956)
Makers and roles
John Fayram (fl. 1723 - 1743), artist
Exhibition history
Crown to Couture, Kensington Palace, London, 2023 Glorious Georges- Hanoverian Succession 300th Anniversary exhibitions at Hampton Court and Kensington Palace, Hampton Court Palace, Surrey, 2014 - 2015 Glorious Georges- Hanoverian Succession 300th Anniversary exhibitions at Hampton Court and Kensington Palace, Kensington Palace, London, 2014 - 2015
References
Farrer 1908 Edmund Farrer, Portraits in Suffolk Houses (West), 1908, no. 89, p.216