The forthcoming Chatsworth ‘attic’ sale brings front and centre the work done by François Hervé. One of a legion of émigré craftsman working in London, surprisingly little is known about Hervé, all the more surprising given his illustrious clientele. Besides the fifth Duke of Devonshire on commissions for both Devonshire House and the surviving Chatsworth, Hervé is known to have worked for the Spencer family at Althorp, and for the Prince of Wales at Carlton House, under the aegis of the prince’s favored architect, Henry Holland.
With all that, our own knowledge of Hervé remains sufficiently limited such that our gallery tags show only ‘flourished 1781-1796’ reflecting the dates of his known commissions. Considerable linkages exist between these, as well, both familial and political. The wife of the fifth Duke of Devonshire was the famed Georgiana, the sister of Earl Spencer of Althorp. And, both families shared with the Prince of Wales an affiliation with the reform minded Whig party. Interesting to speculate on what Herve’s pattern of patronage might mean, and if his work- some much of it in gilt in a clearly recognizable French style- might betoken a political and social liberalism on the part of his clients. Or, more probably, was a fashion statement shared by select members of the quality.