John Jervis, Earl of St Vincent

Inscriptionback to top

Signed and dated lower right of paper disc: Bouch. F. 1797 and inscribed along bottom edge of mount: Original Portrait drawn at Lisbon December 1797 by Bouch.

This portraitback to top

The drawing is accompanied by a letter from Lucretia Kay: '... it was considered a very good likeness and was taken, at my father's request, by an artist at Lisbon, soon after the battle from which the Earl took his title, & has been in the possession of my family ever since' (letter dated 9 September 1863 in NPG archive). Mrs Kay's father was presumably a naval officer serving in the Fleet with Jervis at the time. The only mention of Bouch in both Thieme-Becker and Benezit Dictionary of Artists refers to NPG 167a.

Physical descriptionback to top

Head and shoulders profile to left, hair in queue, admiral's undress uniform, Star of KB, one Naval Gold Medal.

Provenanceback to top

The donor's family possession and given by Mrs Lucretia Kay 1863.

Reproductionsback to top

Stipple by Aguilar published London 1799 (coloured impression in National Maritime Museum).


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Walker, Regency Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, 1985, 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.

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