Mary Lepel, Lady Hervey (1706-1768) (after Kneller)
John Fayram (fl. 1723 - 1743)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1728 - 1729
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1270 x 1016 mm (50 x 40 in)
Place of origin
Bury St Edmunds
Order this imageCollection
Ickworth, Suffolk
NT 851717
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Mary Lepel, Lady Hervey (1706-1768) (after Kneller) by John Fayram (active c.1713–d.1744), 1728/29. A three-quarter-length portrait of a young woman, turned to the left, gazing at the spectator, wearing a low-cut silvery-white dress and rich blue mantle draped over right arm and shoulders, held by a strap going across the bodice; brown/grey hair with ringlets tied back and pearl adornment; holding a wreath of flowers and leaves; dark muted landscape background with rock and trees. (Companion portrait to Lord John Hervey by Fayram - P/20) Fayram began as a local artist, working in Bury St Edmunds. He was patronised by John, Lord Hervey, later 1st Earl of Bristol, and is known chiefly through the records of the latter’s ‘Book of Expences’. A homogeneous group of portraits at Ickworth, including the present picture and NT 851716 (Farrer no.89), can be associated with this artist on the strength of the signed portrait of the Hon. William Hervey referred to under ICK/P/232 (Farrer no.113). Mary (Molly), daughter of General Nicholas Le Pell; married to John, Lord Hervey, of Ickworth, 25th October 1720. She died 2nd September, 1768.
Provenance
The identical lettering of their inscriptions, and the similar, yet differentiated, character of the two paintings, make it almost certain that ICK/P/153 and this are the two portraits recorded by John, 1st Earl of Bristol (1665-1751) in his ‘Book of Expences’ under 22nd February 1728/9: “Paid Fayrum ye painter in full for ye copies of dear Bettys & Lady Herveys their pictures from Richardsons & Knellers. £7.7.0” (The Diary of John Hervey First Earl of Bristol, Wells, 1894, Section XI, p.163). The copy of Lady Betty Hervey / Mansel’s portrait was posthumous, but the present copy was not. One might have imagined that the former was painted for the deceased sitter’s sorrowful father and mother, but not only must they have owned the originals of these two copies, for these to be made by Fayram, but the inscriptions on these copies convey information that would have been redundant for them, but informative for others, whilst omitting information (such as the name of Lady Betty’s husband) that might have been useful to the Herveys. In the case of the present picture, the information conveyed by the inscription would have been equally otiose for the Herveys. Since the two copies were commissioned from Fayram together, it seems most likely that they were intended for the same recipient. That recipient would seem most likely to have been the Hon. Bussy Mansel, who may have wanted both a portrait of his late wife – even though he was to remarry within the month, on 13 March 1728/9 – and of his celebrated sister-in-law by marriage. The two portraits would then probably have returned to Ickworth after his death in November 1750, or after that of his second wife, in June 1761 (or even after the deaths of his only daughter and heir, Louisa Barbara, first wife of George, 2nd Baron Vernon of Kinderton (and Sudbury), and their only daughter and heir, Louisa Barbarsina, who died unmarried, both in the same year, 1786); whenever they reverted to Ickworth, they must thereafter have passed by descent to Frederick William, 4th Marquess of Bristol (1863-1951), on whose succession to the 3rd Marquess (1834-1907) they were listed and on the death of the 4th Marquess, 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 after Sir Godfrey Kneller (Lübeck 1646 - London 1723), 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. 96, p. 217