Hervé, Henry I (McKechnie Section 5)

See Section One for main entry

On most of his trade labels Hervé offers 'profiles painted on ivory and reduc'd to the size of Rings, Broaches, &c.'. I have seen several examples, showing sitters dressed in the costume of c. 1808-16. which might well have been Hervé's work, but none were signed or of definite provenance. Two showed clothing painted in as much detail as two examples of Hervé's work painted on card illustrated in Section Two; another, painted in almost plain black and framed in a locket, was also characteristic of Hervé's work in its general outline.

836, 837

Apart from the enormous quantity of silhouettes produced at John Miers's studio (most of which are signed, and in any case show the recognizable hand of John Field), not many small ivory pieces intended for jewellery setting were produced at the time when Hervè was in practice, but sooner or later an example by Hervé may well come to light. The repeated offer of this kind of work on his trade labels indicates that there was a demand for it. Good work in any style (including bronzed examples) is to be expected, since several of the artist's portrait miniatures on ivory were exhibited at the Royal Academy (see Section Six).