Lady Elizabeth Hervey, later Lady Mansel (1697-1727) as an Infant
Joseph Brook (d.1725)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1700
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
292 x 241 mm (11 ½ x 9 ½ in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Ickworth, Suffolk
NT 851858
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Lady Elizabeth Hervey, later Lady Mansel (1697-1727) as an Infant, attributed to Joseph Brook (fl.1690 - d.1725), circa 1700. A head-and-shoulders portrait of young child. She has short, brown curly hair, dark eyes and pink cheeks. She is wearing a white dress with a deep pink sash caught on her shoulder with a brooch. Dark background. 'Lady Elizabeth Hervey' painted, top right. inscribed 'Lady E. Mansel'.
Provenance
On 4 October 1701, John Hervey (later 1st Earl of Bristol) paid “Brook ye Bury painter for ye 7 children’s pictures” £5.7.6d (see Diary of John Hervey, 1894, section XI, p.160 & Appendix 15: List of Hervey Portraits mentioned in First Lord Bristol’s Book of Expenses: ‘Lord Bristol’s children’, p.250, no.34). But, as S. H. A. Hervey says when summarising this: “It is not clear whether this is a group, or seven different pictures.” 15/6d each would seem extraordinarily little for separate paintings, but then this and its fellow are very small, whilst a single picture would probably have consisted of whole-length figures, requiring as much if not more work, nor does any such picture survive. One might also wonder whether this and NT 851857 do not show children a little older than the five and four years old that John and his sister Elizabeth would have been in 1701 – but that could be ascribed to a lack of competence on the part of the – only local – artist. All in all, to use Occam’s razor, and avoid multiplying entities, it seems safest to assume that these are two of the pictures paid for in 1701; thence by descent; 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)
Makers and roles
Joseph Brook (d.1725), artist British (English) School, artist