Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (1678-1751) politician, diplomat and author

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  • About the work
    Location
    Country: UK
    City: London
    Place: Cabinet Office, 70 Whitehall

    There is some doubt over the artist of this portrait of Henry St John, First Viscount Bolingbroke, a Tory politician, diplomat and writer. An engraving of the portrait, which is reversed, was produced by printmaker Simon Ravenet (1706-1774). However, the lettering on the print does not reveal the artist’s name.

  • About the artist
    Charles Jervas, portrait painter, translator and collector of art, was born in Dublin. He moved to London in the mid 1690s, where he studied under Sir Godfrey Kneller. In 1698 he travelled to Paris to study in the Louvre and then went on to Rome, where he copied antique statuary and paintings by the Italian masters and also purchased art on behalf of English collectors. He returned to London in 1709 and 1723 he succeeded his former tutor, Kneller, as Principal Painter to King George I and later to George II. One of his most important patrons was Sir Robert Walpole, whom he also assisted in acquiring works of art.
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  • Details
    Title
    Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (1678-1751) politician, diplomat and author
    Date
    c.1735
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    height: 77.50 cm, width: 64.00 cm
    Acquisition
    Purchased from Richard Gayner, April 1966
    Inscription
    tl: Ld.. Bolingbroke.
    Provenance
    Collection of suspected murderer (Richard) John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan (1934-in or after 1974); by whom sold through Sotheby's, London, 'Catalogue of Old Master Paintings; including the property of the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Lucan' sale, on 21 October 1964 (Lot 2), for £95, as by 'G. Kneller'; from which sale purchased by Richard Gayner; from whom purchased by the Ministry of Works in April 1966
    GAC number
    7398