'Frederick Hervey with his granddaughter Lady Caroline Crichton in the Gardens of the Villa Borghese, Rome' by Hugh Douglas Hamilton

Frederick Hervey (1730-1803) became Bishop of Derry in 1768. He made five extended visits to Italy, spending eighteen years there in total. The Earl Bishop is shown with his granddaughter, Caroline Crichton (1779-1856), in the gardens of the Villa Borghese in Rome.

A number of Hervey’s biographers have suggested that he suffered from mental illness, with others using harmful labels – ‘eccentric’, ‘crazy’ and ‘unstable’ – to describe his behaviour. Such limiting labels have led many to underestimate his character and achievements. Willa Murphy, an academic and writer, has suggested that Hervey’s numerous trips across Europe were undertaken as part of his broad-minded attempts to search for solutions to local political conflicts in Northern Ireland.

Text by Shane Morrissy, Education Assistant, 2017

Read the National Gallery of Ireland's curatorial text about the work here.