Elizabeth Felton, Countess of Bristol (1676-1741), with her Children Lady Henrietta Hervey (1703-1712) and her Twin Brother Lord Charles Hervey (1703-1786)
Charles d'Agar (Paris 1669 - London 1723)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1709
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1372 x 1575 mm (54 x 62 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Ickworth, Suffolk
NT 851820
Caption
This portrait was commissioned by John, Lord Hervey, later 1st Earl (1665-1751). His ‘Book of Expences’ notes that he “Paid Mr. Charles D’Agar for my dear wife her picture with ye twins, twenty two guineys.” This is the only picture for which the 1st Earl of Bristol records having paid Charles D’Agar. He may have been put off Kneller by his increased prices, and he subsequently tried the Swedish-born painters, Michael Dahl and Hans Hysing, but he seems to have preferred lesser, and local, talents whenever possible. Elizabeth Felton (1676-1741), was the daughter of Sir Thomas Felton Bt. of Playford, Suffolk and Lady Elizabeth Howard, daughter of the 3rd Earl of Suffolk. She married in 1695, as his second wife, John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol (1665-1751). They had altogether eleven sons and six daughters.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Elizabeth Felton, Countess of Bristol (1676-1741), with her Children Lady Henrietta Hervey (1703-1712) and her Twin Brother Lord Charles Hervey (1703-1786) by Charles d'Agar (Paris 1669 – London 1723), inscribed on the top front: top mid-right: The Countess of / Bristol ...... / Harriott & Charles. A three-quarter-length portrait of a woman seated between the two children on a stone bench before a wall and columns. The Countess has dark brown hair, tied back then falling over her shoulders. She is wearing a low-cut white bodice under a wrapover gown of champagne-coloured material with a lining of blue showing across the bodice. The gown has elbow-length sleeves turned back over the under-bodice. She holds a spray of white flowers and dark green leaves in her right hand, resting on her lap. Henrietta to the left, has lighter brown hair, wearing a peacock blue gown over a white bodice, and a pinkish stole. She holds a basket of flowers on her lap. Charles on the right, is pointing his right hand at his mother and sister. He has shorter brown hair. He wears a peacock-blue gown with square neckline and elbow length sleeves. The neckline is edged with gold braid. He has a pink stole fastened across his shoulder and draped round his back. His left hand rests on a gilded birdcage. Trees and a partly obscured building are on the left side. This is the only picture that the 1st Earl of Bristol records paying Charles D’Agar for. He may have been put off Kneller by his increased prices, and he subsequently tried the Swedish-born painters, Michael Dahl and Hans Hysing, but he seems to have preferred lesser, and local, talents whenever possible: Joseph Brooke & John Fayram.
Provenance
Commissioned by John, Lord Hervey, later 1st Earl (1665-1751): in his ‘Book of Expences’ (Diary of John Hervey, First Earl of Bristol, ed. S. H. A. Hervey, Wells, 1894, Section XI, p.161, under 25 November 1709: “Paid Mr. Charles D’Agar for my dear wife her picture with ye twins, twenty two guineys.” Probably inherited by the Hon. & Rev. Charles Hervey, and so alienated from Ickworth. In February 1914 Mr Arthur Edwards, The Cottage, High St., Spalding, wrote to the 1st Marquess offering to sell him this picture; the offer was not taken up, and it was instead bought from Gurr Johns in 1926; thence by descent to the 4th Marquess of Bristol (1863-1951), on whose death it was valued for probate; accepted by H M Treasury in lieu of tax 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
Charles d'Agar (Paris 1669 - London 1723), artist
References
Farrer 1908 Edmund Farrer, Portraits in Suffolk House (West), (Picture List - 6 St James’s Square, MS continuation of an unpublished continuation set up in print, Victoria and Albert Museum), London: 1908, no. 332 Collins Baker 1912 C. H. Collins Baker, Lely and the Stuart Portrait Painters, London, 1912, Vol.II, p.185