Sir Robert Davers, 5th Bt (1729-1763) [aged 21]

Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (Lucca 1708 – Rome 1787). Oil painting on canvas, Sir Robert Davers, 5th Bt (1729-1763) by Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (Lucca 1708 – Rome 1787) , painted in Rome in 1756 ['aged 21' according to old label]. A three-quarter-length portrait of a young man, turned to the left, gazing at the spectator, standing by a table before an open window, wearing black Van Dyck dress and cloak, white lace collar and cuffs, his left hand rests on neck of a light-brown dog jumping up at him, whose front paws rest on a table covered by a green tablecloth, on which rest a pile of bound books, a flute/recorder resting on an open musical score, and a bust of Athene. Childe-Pemberton said that: “Sir Robert Davers was in affectionate relationship with his sister, Mrs Hervey, and had tastes in common with his brother-in-law, both being fond of Art, literature and travel. A fine portrait of him…painted at Rome by Pompeo Battoni [sic] in October, 1756, represents him surrounded by a pile of books and music, a flute and a bust of Minerva – to indicate his love of study and of the Arts…there is a miniature of Robert Davers by Samuel Cotes…it was inset, with the miniatures of Frederick and Elizabeth Hervey, in a marble frame press-papier, the triple memento suggesting the bond which existed between them at this period of their lives”. Sir Robert Davers, 5th Bt. (c.1730–1763), eldest son of Sir Jermyn Davers, 4th Bt., whom he succeeded in 1742/3. His sister, Elizabeth, born in 1730, married the future Earl-Bishop in 1752. He was expected in Florence in 1756 by Sir Horace Mann, who in turn introduced him to Cardinal Albani in Rome in the autumn, which is also when he must have sat to Batoni. He was killed by Indians near Lake Huron. According to a manuscript by Dr G. B. Jermyn that was in S. H. A. Hervey’s possession in 1903 (cf. Rushbrook Parish Registers, p.374), Sir Robert: “left England in a pique, careless what his fate might be, and visited America, seeking the most savage and uncultivated spots, where he was killed in a boat by some Indians in June, 1763”. He never married. Ickworth, Suffolk (Accredited Museum)