Johan Zoffany - Tribuna of the Uffizi - Google Art Project

Felton Hervey (12 February 1712 – 16 August 1773) was an aristocratic English politician from

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market town, market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – ...

in Suffolk, and a member of the British royal household. He took his son and daughter on a

grand tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...

of Italy where he met

Johann Zoffany Johan Joseph Zoffany (born Johannes Josephus Zaufallij; 13 March 1733 – 11 November 1810) was a German neoclassical painter who was active mainly in England, Italy and India. His works appear in many prominent British collections, includin ...

and

Pope Clement XIV Pope Clement XIV ( la, Clemens XIV; it, Clemente XIV; 31 October 1705 – 22 September 1774), born Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio Ganganelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 May 1769 to his death in Sep ...

Life

Hervey was born in 1712; he was the tenth son (and seventeenth child) of

John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol (27 August 1665 – 20 January 1751) was an English politician. John Hervey was born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, the son of Sir Thomas Hervey. He was educated in Bury and at Clare College, Cambridge. He ...

. His mother, Elizabeth Felton, was the daughter and heir of

Sir Thomas Felton, 4th Baronet Sir Thomas Felton, 4th Baronet (12 October 1649 – 3 March 1709), of Whitehall, Westminster and Playford, Suffolk, was an English courtier and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1690 and 1709 . Felton was the son of Sir ...

, who, like her husband, was also an MP for the family seat of

. He was the second child to be called Felton, as an elder brother who had lived only a few weeks had been given that name. His elder brother's brief life and death are recorded in a naive painting conserved in the Rotunda,

Ickworth House Ickworth House is a country house at Ickworth, near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. It is a neoclassical building set in parkland. The house was the residence of the Marquess of Bristol before being sold to the National Trust in 1998. H ...

, that is possibly by Joseph Brooke. He was educated at

Bury St Edmunds Grammar School King Edward VI School is a co-educational Comprehensive school, comprehensive secondary school in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. The school in its present form was created in 1972 by the merging of King Edward VI Grammar School, with the Silv ...

and later expelled from

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

.The Hon Felton Harvey by John Faynam
National Trust. Retrieved 4 June 2014 Hervey was Queen Caroline's equerry in 1736–7, but he was dismissed for misconduct. However, from 1737 to 1756 he was the

groom of the bedchamber Groom of the Chamber was a position in the Household of the monarch in early modern England. Other ''Ancien Régime'' royal establishments in Europe had comparable officers, often with similar titles. In France, the Duchy of Burgundy, and in Eng ...

to her seventh child,

Prince William, Duke of Cumberland Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (15 April 1721 Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">N.S..html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki> N.S.">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html"_;"title="/nowiki>Old_Style_and_New_St ...

. In 1754 Hervey stood for the House of Commons against the naval officer

Augustus Hervey Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...

to whom he was related having quarrelled with Lord Bristol. He became one of the members of parliament (MP) for

in Suffolk. Hervey said that he was expecting a position by the then Whig Prime Minister

Henry Pelham Henry Pelham (25 September 1694 – 6 March 1754) was a British Whig statesman who served as 3rd Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1743 until his death in 1754. He was the younger brother of Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, who ...

, but he eventually gave up hope despite Pelham's reassurances. In 1756 Hervey resigned his position with the Duke of Cumberland citing the problems of travelling several times a year. (In 1757 his nephew Augustus Hervey was narrowly elected for Bury St Edmunds by one vote despite still being in active command of a ship in the Mediterranean.) Hervey was successful in being appointed to the

sinecure A sinecure ( or ; from the Latin , 'without', and , 'care') is an office, carrying a salary or otherwise generating income, that requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service. The term originated in the medieval chu ...

post of Remembrancer to the Exchequer. He shared this post unusually with his son, who continued with the post after his father's death. In September 1772 Hervey was in Florence with his nephew Colonel William Hervey and two of his children. Hervey was portrayed among the ''virtuosi'' in the foreground of

's painting ''

Tribuna of the Uffizi The Tribuna of the Uffizi is an octagonal room in the Uffizi gallery, Florence, Italy. Designed by Bernardo Buontalenti for Francesco I de' Medici in 1584, the most important antiquities and High Renaissance and Bolognese paintings from the Medic ...

''. Zoffany's painting was not complete until after Hervey's death but he is the figure in the foreground surrounded by the British Consul, the artist

Thomas Patch Thomas Patch (March 13, 1725 – April 30, 1782) was an English painter, printmaker in etching, physiognomist and art historian. He made a living from painting views of Florence and Tivoli and appears to have sold a number of painted caricatu ...

and other members of the British set in Italy.A key to the people shown
oneonta.edu. Retrieved 4 June 2014 Hervey had an audience with the Pope in 1773 and died shortly after returning from Italy. He never saw the completed Zoffany painting, as it was not finished until 1777.Tribuna of the Uffizi
Royal Collection. Retrieved 4 June 2014

Family

Hervey had married Dorothy, daughter of Solomon Ashley, of Westminster. MP and widow of Charles Pitfield of Hoxley on 25 December 1740, and together they had a son and three (or four) daughters. * Amelia Hervey (b. 3 January 1742), was baptised at St James's Church, Piccadilly. * Caroline Hervey (b. 29 March 1745), was baptised at St James's Church, Piccadilly. * Elizabeth Hervey. * Felton Lionel Hervey (b. 21 May 1751), was baptised at St James's Church, Piccadilly. * Isabella Hervey (b. 16 August 1756), was baptised at St James's Church, Piccadilly.

Legacy

Beside the Zoffany painting there is also a much younger and larger portrait by

John Fayram John Fayram, a portrait and landscape painter, practised in London. He died in 1744. Life Fayram was active before 1744. There are by him some slight, coarse etchings of views in the neighbourhood of Chelsea and Battersea, and also one of the ...

in the Ickworth Rotunda, and the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

own a miniature of him by

Christian Friedrich Zincke Christian Friedrich Zincke (1683–5 – 24 March 1767) was a German miniature painter active in England in the 18th century. Life He was born in Dresden and died in Lambeth (now London). He apprenticed his father and also studied painting ...

, which dates from about 1730.Felton Hervey miniature
National Trust. Retrieved 7 June 2014 In 1775 an auction was organised by

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

at his former home in Bury St Edmunds of his considerable art collection. Hervey's son Lieutenant Felton Lionel Hervey, who had worked for the exchequer with him, was left the manor in Bury St Edmunds. His son later committed suicide in a London gunsmiths.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hervey, Felton 1712 births 1773 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1747–1754 British MPs 1754–1761 Younger sons of earls Politicians from Bury St Edmunds People educated at King Edward VI School, Bury St Edmunds People educated at Eton College Articles containing image maps