Charles Jervas

Alfred Webb

A Compendium of Irish Biography

1878

Jervas, Charles, a portrait painter, was born in Ireland about 1675. He studied under Sir Godfrey Kneller, visited Paris and Rome, settled in London in 1708, and died there about 1740. A second-rate artist, he was distinguished by his vanity and his good fortune. "He married a widow with £20,000; and his natural self-conceit was greatly encouraged by his intimate friend Pope, who has written an epistle to Jervas full of silly flattery."[39] We are told that "on one occasion, having copied a picture of Titian, he looked alternately at the two, and at last exclaimed: 'Poor little Tit, how he would stare!' When Kneller was told that Jervas had set up a carriage with four horses, he exclaimed: 'Ah, mine cot, if his horses do not draw better than he does, he will never get to his journey's end.'"

Sources

39. Biographical Dictionary, Imperial: Edited by John F. Waller. 3 vols. London, N.D.

276. Painters, General Dictionary of: Matthew Pilkington, A.M. 2 vols. London, 1824.

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