Explore: Charles Jervas

(c.1675 - 1739)

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.