Lady Elizabeth Hervey, Lady Mansel (1697-1727) (after Jonathan Richardson the younger)
John Fayram (fl. 1723 - 1743)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1725 - 1728 - 1729
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1245 x 991 mm (49 x 39 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Ickworth, Suffolk
NT 851848
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Lady Elizabeth Hervey, Lady Mansel (1697-1727) (after Jonathan Richardson the younger), by John Fayram (active c.1713–d.1744), inscribed: in neat lettering [of a kind not found on other pictures at Ickworth], top centre to top right: LADY ELIZABETH MANSEL Daughter of JOHN EARL of BRISTOL, circa 1725 -1728/9. A three-quarter-length portrait, standing before very dark classical landscape. She has dark brown hair tied back, then falling over her shoulders. She wears a low cut white under-bodice with cross-over gown of champagne-coloured material edged with pink, and elbow length sleeves edged with pink. Third daughter of John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol (1665-1751), and the eldest by his second wife, Elizabeth Felton (1676-1741), daughter of Sir Thomas Felton. Married, on 7 May 1724, as his first wife, the Hon. Bussy Mansel who only succeeded his brother as 4th Lord Mansel after her death, in 1744. She died on 3rd September 1727 and is buried at Ickworth. Her husband married as his second wife, Lady Barbara Villiers, daughter of the 2nd Earl of Jersey, and widow of Sir William Blackett, Bt.
Provenance
The identical lettering of their inscriptions, and the similar, yet differentiated, character of the two paintings, make it almost certain that ICK/P/21 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). This copy of Lady Betty Hervey / Mansel’s portrait was posthumous, but the other 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. 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 (1863-1951), 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 Jonathan Richardson the younger (London 1694 – London 1771), artist
References
Farrer 1908 Edmund Farrer, Portraits in Suffolk Houses (West), 1908, no. 130 Collins Baker 1912 C. H. Collins Baker, Lely and the Stuart Portrait Painters, London, 1912, vol.II, p.185