William Hervey (1619-1642)
British (English) School
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1640 - 1642
Materials
Oil on canvas (oval)
Measurements
730 x 591 mm (28 ¾ x 23 ¼ in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Ickworth, Suffolk
NT 851807
Summary
Oil painting on canvas (oval), William Hervey (1619-1642), British (English) School, 1640-1642. Inscribed on right hand side 'Mr William Hervey Son of Sir Thomas Hervey'. An oval half-length portrait of a man, turned slighlty to the right, gazing at the spectator, wearing dark clothes, a large grey linen collar and grey linen cuff. He was the second son of Sir William Hervey and Susan Jermyn. He died of smallpox at Cambridge, where he was a close friend of Abraham Cowley (1618-1667), who wrote a poem lamenting his early death, in which he describes him as a ‘wondrous young man’. It begins: ‘It was a dismal and fearful night…’, and goes on: “Ye fields of Cambridge, our dear Cambridge, say, Have ye not seen us walking every day? Was there a tree about which did not know The love betwixt us two?” ‘On the Death of Mr William Hervey’ (1656)
Provenance
Presumably commissioned by the sitter (who died unmarried and without issue), or by his father, and thence by inheritance and descent until the death of the 3rd Marquess (1834-1907), when inventoried; on the death of Frederick William, 4th Marquess of Bristol (1863-1951), valued for probate:
Credit line
Ickworth, The Bristol Collection (acquired through the National Land Fund and transferred to The National Trust in 1956)
Makers and roles
British (English) School, artist