Hervé, Henry I

Introduction:

With profiles hollow-cut, painted on card, paper, plaster, ivory and convex glass to his name, London-born HENRY HERVÉ (1783-1853) was the most versatile of the 6 related Hervé silhouettists operating to a greater or a lesser extent during the first half of the 19th century.

Henry Hervé's earliest works are set in frames of oval fruitwood; papier mâché frames house later profiles. Hollow-cut work is well executed. Profiles on card, paper or convex glass generally evidence black bodycolour, outside of which delicately applied thinned pigment details hair and attire. All bustline terminations are of shallow convex-concave type. Though trade labels advertised jewellery work on ivory, none were recorded until 2024, when a signed work on ivory in a brooch setting was discovered in a private collection. Bronzed profiles on plaster are very  rare, with highlighting confidently applied. Profiles on convex glass are more common, and made singular by the 'buff-pink composition' backing them - a feature unique to Hervé.

Seven printed trade labels ca.1808 - ca. 1820 record Hervé marketing himself variously as "Miniature and Profile Painter" or "Jeweller and Miniature Painter" working from 12 Cheapside, London. Between 1810 -1845 twenty five directories record him  there as "Artist" or "Miniature Painter". He also exhibited portrait miniatures at the Royal Academy from the address between 1813 -1843.

Until recent research, Hervé family connections were largely speculative and unfortunately, McKechnie's suggestions regarding them in BRITISH SILHOUETTE ARTISTS and their WORKS (1978) are comprehrensively in error.

Of French Huguenot extraction, Henry Hervé's forebears were settled in London by the beginning of the 18th century. Henry was the 3rd of 11 children, 7 sons and 4 daughters, born in London to Margaret née Russel (1753-1819) and merchant Peter Daniel Hervé (1752-1796). Four sons survived to adulthood. All became artists. All exhibited portrait miniatures, some of each other, at Royal Academy exhibitions, in the main between 1810-1820.

Of the brothers, Peter Hervé (1779-1827) also founded the still-extant National Benevolent Institute in 1812 and penned a visitor's guide to Paris in 1818. Henry Hervé (1783-1853) became a miniaturist and profilist, as did Charles Hervé (1785-1866). Francis Hervé (1787-1851), primarily a portrait miniaturist, wrote and illustrated "A Residence in Greece, Turkey...and the Balkans" (1837) and edited Madame Marie Tussaud's Memoirs and Reminiscences of the French Revolution (1838).

Of the following generation, 3 of Charles Hervé's sons: Charles Stanley (1809-1897), Alfred (1812-1879) and Edwin (1816-1882) became miniaturists and profilists, as did Henry Hervé's son Edward Lemont (ca.1817-after 1851). The broadly bestowed artistic talents seemingly originated with Henry Hervé's mother Margaret, she being the first family member recorded a Society of Artists and Royal Academy exhibitor between 1783-1800. Between 1804-1807 Henry Hervé's own artistry was initially employed anonymously by jeweller and pocketbook manufacturer William Farthing (1759-1834) at 12, Cheapside, London - an address Hervé continued using as a studio into the 1840s.

Farthing's trade label praised the unnamed Hervé's talents as "...of the highest rank, having had much practice on the...[Hawkins]...PATENT MACHINE..." which was patented in 1802 by the tirelessly inventive, perennially bankrupt John Isaac Hawkins (1772-1855). Tracing the outline of sitters' profiles, Hawkins' machines were portable and, according to the 1810 sale catalogue of his (bankrupt) 'Mechanical Museum' of 79 Great Titchfield Street, were available for purchase at £80 each, which equates to £5,200 in 2024 terms. Seemingly, the museum employed Hervé, again working anonymously, some time between 1808-1809 to demonstrate the machine's worth, as a profile on paper by him bearing a previously unrecorded trade label headed "Hawkins' Patent Likeness Machine" with the short-lived museum's address, has recently surfaced.

Hervé's initial independent record appears in the CALEDONIAN MERCURY 19 February 1807. Advertising himself as "Mr. Hervé...", he claims his "Extraordinary Patent Machine...[would by]...his long practice...[produce profiles with]...mechanical certainty in one minute...in a superior manner..." at various prices. Terms for miniatures ranged from half to 3 guineas, though "...having been induced to quit London...his stay in Edinburgh would be brief ".

Hervé may have been temporarily 'induced' to quit London due to his employer, William Farthing, quitting 12 Cheapside. However, by the winter of 1808, Hervé is a ratepayer at the address and his 1st trade label proclaims him there as "Successor to Mr. Farthing".

In February 1810 the LONDON GAZETTE lists "Henry Hervé, Jeweller of Cheapside..." bankrupt. His first 3 trade labels variously advertised buying and exchanging diamonds and pearls, or offering "Jewellery of  all description..." along with an additional address 23 New Bond Street. However, with 4 subsequent trade labels making no mention of jewellery or a 2nd address, it appears Hervé's debts, cleared the following year, were surely caused by this strand of business.

In November 1816, Edinburgh was revisited in tandem with brother Charles. The CALEDONIAN MERCURY of 19 November advertises "Messrs H. and C. HERVÉ from Cheapside London...[offering terms of]...Profiles at One Shilling! in Bronze 5s 6d; in Colours 10s 6d; Miniatures from three to twenty Guineas". Clients were encouraged to view their "...[Profile] Machine and specimens...[being]...superior to any yet exhibited".

In September 1820 'Henry Hervé, 35, 'Artist' was one of 7 passengers arriving in New York aboard the brigantine Venus, though what prompted the visit, or whether he worked there commercially, is unknown. His stay was likely brief, as English directories list him without interruption between 1810-1823.

In 1824, Hervé returned to Edinburgh, staying long enough to list himself a "Miniature Painter" in PIGOTS 1825 Scottish Directory. Interestingly, an advertisement in THE SCOTSMAN 27 March 1824 relates he had "...since his return to Edinburgh been engaged in painting for...[Prosopographus]...the Automaton Artist...[a concern run by his younger brother Charles]. "Encouraged to remain...[he would]...continue to paint miniatures and profiles at the same terms...and same prices as that taken by the Automaton". Whether he painted profiles for 'Prosopographus' at the later date is unknown, and how he generated a sustained income for the next 27 years is conjectural, as only one portrait miniature and no profiles, as far as known, are attributable to him over this period.

Regarding his personal life, as no evidence of a marriage has come to light, his 'wife' Honoria's background is unknown. Between 1806-1817 she gave birth to 3 sons and 3 daughters; one of each likely died young. In February 1832 she was buried at St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, London, aged 52. Of their offspring, Caroline (1806-1889) and Amelia (1808-1870) resided in Paris, then Jersey, where Amelia died unwed. Caroline married in Paris and died at the home of her cousin Charles Stanley Hervé in October 1889. Son Edward Lemont is known solely from two 1850-1851 POST OFFICE directories and a single`Royal Academy exhibit as a "Miniature Painter" working at 172 Oxford Street, the studio address of Alfred and Charles Stanley Hervé. Son Walter Russel Hervé (1816-1898) is recorded in 1840 in the United States, buying land in Illinois. Four years later, marrying in Peru, he died there in 1898.

Henry Hervé's death is registered in London in the first quarter of 1853. His burial place is unknown.

Revised: 9 February 2024 (Brian Wellings)

 

 

 

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