Ickworth House – Painting of Constantine Phipps Greeting Augustus Hervey
This painting at Ickworth House shows the meeting of the Hon. Mrs Constantine Phipps being led to greet her brother, Captain the Hon Augustus Hervey, later 3rd Earl of Bristol. The artwork was commissioned in 1750 by the matriarch Mary, Lady Hervey, but it was a rather more complex affair than she might have first intended. The six individuals posed, or whatever it is people do when sitting for a painting, in Paris in October 1750 and much of the whole thing was a show of her social status. Anyway, there’s more about Mary at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Hervey and more about Augustus at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_Hervey,_3rd_Earl_of_Bristol.
The artist was Hubert-François Bourguignon (1699-1773), known as Gravelot, who was something of an active participant in London’s burgeoning art scene, frequenting Slaughter’s Coffee House and teaching at the St. Martin’s Lane Academy, an important precursor to the Royal Academy, alongside figures like William Hogarth and Francis Hayman. His pupils included the young Thomas Gainsborough, who reportedly even painted backgrounds for Gravelot in the mid-1740s. In the Ickworth painting, commissioned five years after his return to Paris, Gravelot appears to have been the primary architect and instigator of the whole arrangement. He is credited with painting the bodies of the figures and, significantly, the heads of Mary, Lady Hervey, and the Fitzgerald couple.
But then we move onto Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702–1789), a portrait painter born in Geneva to French Huguenot parents. For the Ickworth commission, Liotard was specifically engaged to paint the heads of the Honourable Mrs Constantine Phipps and her husband. But then it seems that Lady Hervey became a bit impatient with the speed of everything and she commissioned Francis Hayman (1708-1776) to finish everything off, although his exact contribution is unclear so there are some figures that have likely been painted by three different people.
Which gives us (as everyone loves a handy table):
| Figure | Name & Title (at time of painting / later) | Dates | Relationship to Commissioner (Mary, Lady Hervey) | Depicted Attire | Artist of Head |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woman being led | Hon. Lepell Phipps (née Hervey) / later Lady Mulgrave | 1723–1780 | Daughter | Pink and white dress | Liotard |
| Man being greeted | Captain the Hon. Augustus Hervey / later 3rd Earl of Bristol | 1724–1779 | Son | Blue naval uniform, gold braid | Gravelot |
| Woman seated (right) | Mary ‘Molly’ Lepel, Lady Hervey | c. 1700–1768 | Commissioner (Self) | Pink dress, black shawl | Gravelot |
| Man leading woman | Constantine Phipps / later 1st Baron Mulgrave | 1722–1775 | Son-in-law | Blue attire | Liotard |
| Second woman standing | Lady Mary Fitzgerald (née Hervey) | 1726–1815 | Daughter | Green dress | Gravelot |
| Second man standing | George Fitzgerald, MP | (dates N/A) | Son-in-law | Murrey-brown coat, blue waistcoat | Gravelot |
What a faff. This painting was one of the relatively few at Ickworth House that just stayed at the property, perhaps because no-one else would want it, rather than being one that the National Trust had to work out how to reacquire later on. The whole thing feels like the eighteenth century equivalent of a modern-day photo of a family on a first class flight somewhere cultural, showing happy families, a slight air of superiority and a hint of cultural aspirations. Well, something rather more than a hint. The painting is all very country house aristocracy, although to be fair, that’s exactly what it is and I’m rather pleased (as much as anyone can be in the circumstances) that the painting has continued to be kept at the house.
