Hervé, Henry II (McKechnie Section 7)

In the entry on Henry Hervé I in Section One I suggest that later works (dating from the 1830s and 1840s) hitherto ascribed to him were probably produced by his eldest son Henry. The latest authenticated work by Henry Hervé I was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1816. The entry 'Hervé, Henry, 12 Cheapside', which appears in directories published in 1839, 1840, 1843, 1846 and 1847, probably refers to Henry Hervé II, who may have used this address as a studio, as his father had done. Since the date of death of Henry Hervé I has not been traced, it is possible that some of the earlier directory references listed in the entry on him in Section One refer to Henry Hervé II.

One of the works which should now, I believe, be ascribed to Henry Hervé II is a portrait of a man (9 x 7 in.), painted in water-colour on paper and signed with a brush, 'Hervé, 12, Cheapside'. It was sold by Sotheby Parke Bernet and Company, London, on 15 December 1975. The sitter is wearing morning dress; his face is rendered in flesh tints, and he is set against a background showing a garden, painted mainly in grey and brown wash. Framed in rosewood, this portrait dates from the late 1830s or early 1840s. Another example is a portrait (of similar size) of a woman, also painted in water-colour on paper and similarly signed. This also shows a garden in the background. It is framed in maple, and dates from c. 1843-45. The portrait of Admiral Ross, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1843 and sent in by 'Henry Hervé' from 21 Paradise Row (where various members of the Hervé family lived over a period of many years) must now be ascribed to Henry Hervé II.

I have seen no silhouettes by Henry Hervé I dating from after c. 1820, and there is no evidence that silhouettes bearing his label were produced by his eldest son, though, because of the difficulty of assigning directory references, we cannot be certain. We do not know for how long Henry Hervé II worked as an artist, and the dates which are allotted to him at the head of this entry are only based on the approximate dates of recorded profiles which can be ascribed to him with reasonable confidence.