Lord John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey of Ickworth, PC, MP (1696-1743) holding his Purse of Office as Lord Privy Seal
Jean-Baptiste van Loo (Aix-en-Provence 1684 - Aix-en-Provence 1745) and Studio
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1741
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1829 x 1372 mm (72 x 54 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Ickworth, Suffolk
NT 851778
Caption
Lord Hervey is here shown holding his purse of office as Keeper of the Privy Seal, a position that he held between 1740 and 1742. He was the eldest son of John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol (1665-1751) and Elizabeth Felton, his second wife. In 1720 he married Mary Lepel, maid-of-honour to the Princess of Wales. He was an intimate of Queen Caroline, becoming Vice-Chamberlain in 1730, but afterwards joining the Opposition. Van Loo and his studio assistant, John Giles Eccardt, seem themselves to have been responsible for a number of portraits of John, Lord Hervey, in various formats. This picture was painted towards the end of Van Loo’s time in England, when he was suffering from ill-health, which would account for the degree of what appears to be studio assistance. It is however, the kind of portrait, of the sitter as office-holder, at which the French, more than the English, excelled.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Lord John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey of Ickworth, PC, MP (1696-1743) holding his Purse of Office as Lord Privy Seal by Jean-Baptiste van Loo (Aix-en-Provence 1684 - Aix-en-Provence 1745) and Studio, 1741. Inscribed: in black cursive script to the right of the chair-arm: The Rr Honble John Lord Hervey / Lord Privy Seal, one of the Lords / Justices & Guardians of the Kingdom / Eldest Son to John Earl of Bristol / 1741; bottom right, in white: JOHN LORD HERVEY Lord Privy Seal in the Reign of KING. GEORGE. 2nd. A full-length portrait of a man, turned slightly to the left, gazing at the spectator, seated on a blue velvet upholstered chair, his Purse of Office as Lord Privy Seal held almost upright on his right knee, wearing brown coat and breeches, white shirt, stock and hose, black buckled shoes. Short powdered wig, with centre parting. There is a table on the left, with blue velvet cloth on which lie his hat and gloves. A large blue drape with gilt braiding, is pulled back at the left to reveal some books. See also black and white print - ICK/P/253 (Ad.F.). Exhibited - New Galleries, Guelph, 1891, no.299. John, Lord Hervey (1696-1743) was the eldest son of John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol (1665-1751) and Elizabeth Felton, his second wife. In 1720 he married Mary Lepel, maid-of-honour to the Princess of Wales; father of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Earls of Bristol. He was an intimate of Queen Caroline, becoming Vice-Chamberlain in 1730 and Keeper of the Privy Seal (1740-2), afterwards joining the Opposition. A bitter pamphlet warfare took place between him and Pope, ending with the latter’s characterisation of him as ‘Sporus’ in the Epistle to Arbuthnot. His famous Memoirs of the Reign of George II were published in 1848, the family having destroyed some of the more shocking sheets. An admirable biography of him by Robert Halsband was published in 1973.
Provenance
Presumably commissioned by the sitter himself, and thence by descent to Frederick William, 4th Marquess of Bristol (1863-1951); on the death of the 4th Marquess (1863-1951), valued for probate; after which, 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)
Marks and inscriptions
John, Lord Hervey, Lord Privy Seal in the reign of King George 2nd.
Makers and roles
Jean-Baptiste van Loo (Aix-en-Provence 1684 - Aix-en-Provence 1745) and Studio, artist John Giles Eccardt (Germany 1720 - Chelsea 1779), artist
References
Farrer 1908 Edmund Farrer, Portraits in Suffolk Houses (West), 1908, no. 88 Kerslake 1977 John Kerslake, Early Georgian Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, London 1977 (2 vols), vol.I, p.140, (NPG 167)