Lord John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey of Ickworth, PC, MP (1696-1743) holding his Purse of Office as Lord Privy Seal

Lord John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey of Ickworth, was one of the most colourful figures in the court of George II, serving as Lord Privy Seal from 1740 and playing a central role in the factional politics of the early Hanoverian period. Jean-Baptiste van Loo painted him in 1741, showing him holding his purse of office, an explicit visual assertion of his official position. Hervey was a controversial figure: a skilled court operator and memoirist whose intimate portrait of George II's court provides one of the most vivid records of the period, he was also subjected to satirical attacks for his effete manner and political pliability. Van Loo's portrait, now held by the National Trust, presents Hervey in an entirely dignified register, the purse of office functioning as the portrait's defining attribute. The choice of van Loo was natural given the artist's dominance of fashionable portraiture in London at the time. Hervey died in 1743, meaning this portrait was painted near the end of his life.

The inclusion of the purse of office transforms a straightforward portrait into an image of official function, and van Loo positions it prominently as a compositional and symbolic anchor. The handling of the velvet coat and lace is meticulous, and the sitter's expression carries a reserved intelligence characteristic of van Loo's more psychologically alert male portraits.