John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol (1665-1751) (after Sir Godfrey Kneller)
Enoch Seeman the younger (Gdańsk c.1694 – London 1744)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1738
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
2337 x 1461 mm (92 x 57 ½ in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Ickworth, Suffolk
NT 851818.1
Caption
The sitter was the founder of the family’s eighteenth-century fortunes. He dramatically expanded the Hervey estates by marrying two heiresses: Isabella Carr and Elizabeth Felton. Having made his name at court as a Whig supporter of the Hanoverian succession, he retired to Ickworth after his elevation to the Earldom in 1714. This portrait was painted in 1738, but based, in part, on Kneller’s likeness of him as a much younger man. The pendant of his wife, Elizabeth Felton, Countess of Bristol, also hangs at Ickworth, but was not based on any earlier likeness by Kneller.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol (1665-1751) (after Sir Godfrey Kneller) by Enoch Seeman the younger (Gdańsk c.1694 – London 1744), 1738. A full-length portrait, standing, turned slightly to the left, gazing at the spectator, his right hand on his hip, his left resting on a table bearing an earl’s coronet, wearing peer's robes for the coronation of George I. Architectural background with large column on the right.
Provenance
Possibly paid for by the sitter in 1738 (see Diary, Section XI, under April 8th: “Paid Mr. Enoch Seemans in full for copies of mine & my wife her pictures, being both whole lengths, (at 10 guineas each), £21.”); thence by descent to the 4th Marquess (1863-1951), on the death of the 3rd (1834-1907); after his death 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
Enoch Seeman the younger (Gdańsk c.1694 – London 1744), publisher after Sir Godfrey Kneller (Lübeck 1646 - London 1723), publisher