Frederick Augustus Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol

1 portrait matching these criteria:

- subject matching 'Religion, faith and spirituality'

Frederick Augustus Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol, by Christopher Hewetson, circa 1778 -NPG 3895 - © National Portrait Gallery, London

© National Portrait Gallery, London

Mid-Georgian Portraits Catalogue

Frederick Augustus Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol

by Christopher Hewetson
circa 1778
25 1/2 in. (648 mm) high
NPG 3895

Inscriptionback to top

Inscribed behind the shoulders: CHRISTOPHORVS.HEWETSON.FECIT

This portraitback to top

Identified by Hodgkinson in 1953 [1] and possibly contemporary with the Batoni portrait of 1778, to judge by the sitter’s apparent age and wig; [2] an alternative dating of c.1770 is unsubstantiated. [3] A version at Ickworth, conceivably after Hewetson, differs only in the bands and cape; it had been attributed to Joseph Wilton.
In 1795 Hewetson accepted (‘for the love of Bread and Cheese’) a commission from Lord Bristol for a colossal marble portrait of Pitt, apparently never completed, [4] and there was probably a further commission for a bust of Lady Caroline Crichton, Lord Bristol’s grand-daughter (private collection, Belfast). [5]

Footnotesback to top

1) Note on file.
2) As suggested by R. B. Ford, Apollo, XCIX, 1974, p 428.
3) J. Ingamells, Dictionary of British and Irish Travellers in Italy 1701-1800, compiled from the Brinsley Ford Archive, 1997, p 494.
4) T. W. I. Hodgkinson, ‘Christopher Hewetson, an Irish Sculptor in Rome’, Wal. Soc., XXXIV, 1958, p 50; B. de Breffny, ‘Christopher Hewetson’, Irish Arts Review, III, 3, 1986, p 58, no.21.
5) See B. de Breffny, ‘Christopher Hewetson’, Irish Arts Review, III, 3, 1986, p 55, no.5.

Referenceback to top

Hewetson 1958
T. W. I. Hodgkinson, ‘Christopher Hewetson, an Irish Sculptor in Rome’, Walpole Society, XXXIV, 1958, p 50.

Hewetson 1986
B. de Breffny, ‘Christopher Hewetson’, Irish Arts Review, III, 3, 1986, p 57, no.13.

Physical descriptionback to top

Wearing a bishop’s fur-lined robes.

Provenanceback to top

Mortlock, Meldreth Hall, Cambs.; Gerald Kerin, London, from whom purchased 1953.

Exhibitionsback to top

Italy and the Grand Tour, Norwich, 1985 (31); II Setteccento a Roma, Rome, 1959 (301); Italian Art and Britain, RA, 1960 (458); Irish Portraits 1660-1860, NPG, 1969 (163).


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, National Portrait Gallery, 2004, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.