Elizabeth Davers, Countess of Bristol (1730-1800) and her Daughter Lady Louisa Theodosia Hervey, later Countess...

Antonio de Bittio (1722-1797). Oil painting on canvas, Elizabeth Davers, Countess of Bristol (1730-1800) and her Daughter Lady Louisa Theodosia Hervey, later Countess of Liverpool (1770-1821) by Antonio de Bittio (1722-1797), circa 1773. (Formerly signed by the artist on the book-mark: Ano de Bittio P t, according to the annotated separatum of Appendices 15 and 16 from S.H.A.Hervey’s edition of the Diary of John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol (1894), formerly in family possession at Ickworth but now in the Curator of Pictures and Sculpture’s library at Queen Anne’s Gate; but the signature was removed by an unscrupulous dealer sometime between 1964 and 1986. The form of the removed signature is preserved in Dorofield Hardy’s copy of the picture [ICK/P/134a]: bookmark is annotated 'Au de Bittie Px'. The mother is seated on a red upholstered chair with moulded wooden frame. She has short, straight brown hair, and is wearing a lace headdress tied below her chin, and a long green dress with matching ribbon edging and long lace cuffs from the elbows. The child has short brown hair and is wearing a whitish cap edged with lace and with a red bow in the centre. She has a white bodice with a red sash and brown skirt. Both are pointing to an open book resting on the mother's knees. Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Jermyn Davers, 4th Bt., of Rushbrooke Hall, married the future 4th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry (1730-1803) in 1752, and lived in amnity with him for three decades, but quarrelled with her husband during a carriage-ride from Ickworth, after which they never spoke to one another again, and separated in 1782. The Earl-Bishop travelled and collected more furiously than ever, and Lady Bristol retired to live at Ickworth with her two youngest children, Frederick and Louisa. Louisa married the future 2nd Earl of Liverpool in 1795. Ickworth, Suffolk (Accredited Museum)