Charles Jervas (c.1675-1739)

Portrait of a Lady in a Pink Dress
Oil on canvas
30 1/8 x 25 in.

PROVENANCE:
Private Collection Pittsburgh, PA

CHARLES JERVAS (c. 1675-1739) was born in County Offaly, Ireland around 1675. By the mid 1790’s he traveled to London and worked in Sir Godfrey Kneller’s studio. With the assistance of patrons in 1798, he to travel to Italy where he remained for a decade.  In 1709, he returned to London and established a portrait studio. His friendships with the leading prominent literary figures of his day, such as Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope, helped Jervas gain much of his fame and patronage.  With this reputation, he was able to become the Principle Painter Painter to George II.  In addition to painting, Jervas gained fame as a writer and translator of Cervantes’s Don Quixote, which was published posthumously in 1742.