Carr, John

(1764 - 1817), e. s. of Ralph Carr of Dunston Hill, Durham, and Hedgeley, Northumb.; Ch.Ch. Oxf. 1781; m. 1802 Hannah Ellison.

1791 - 4 [dep. England Sept.1791] Turin (by 9 - 22 Oct. 1791), Milan (23 Oct. - after 8 Nov.), Parma, Bologna (3 days), Florence (by 21 Nov. - Dec.), Rome (3 Dec. 1791 - 24 Jan. 1792), Naples (late Jan. - Feb.), Rome (by 24 Mar. - 26 May), Florence (May 1792 - 19 Nov. 1793) with visits to Siena in Sep. and Nov.; Rome (late Nov. 1793 - Feb. 1794), Naples (Feb.), Rome (Feb. - 10 May), Florence (May - after 4 Jul.), Bergamo (Jul.) [England by Sept.1794]

John Carr had made a continental tour in 1788 - 9, which would have included Italy had he not caught malaria in Vienna.1 His second tour, two years later, was made with his sister Harriet, an amateur artist who required a warm climate for her health. They travelled directly to Italy,2 intending to stay abroad a year but, because of the French wars, they eventually spent three years in Italy. John carefully managed their finances, and remained much concerned to bring his sister back 'in perfect health'.

They met torrential rain in Turin where they had to stay until the roads became passable. There was then congenial society in Milan where the Princess Castiglione gave them introductions for other towns. After two weeks they set out for Florence, passing through Parma and Bologna where Harriet was so enthralled with the Bolognese painters that she 'scarce thought [herself] on Earth' (21 Nov.). They spent ten days in Florence before wintering in Rome. Their time was spent quietly, but included visits to artists' studios with Henry Swinburne. Towards the end of January 1792 they visited Naples, staying with 'Mareschalchi', master of chapel and 'a very great rascal'. They returned to Rome in March, intending to proceed to Venice in April, but the military 'confusion' north of the Alps made them change their plans and on 26 May they left Rome for Florence, which was to be their home for the next eighteen months.

Harriet's health improved and she was busy as an artist. She had painted a water-colour miniature of Lady Hamilton, dated Naples 11 February 1792 and inscribed by Emma: 'I had the happiness of my dear Miss Carr's Company all day - but alas the day was too short',3 and on 25 March 1792 Mrs Flaxman and Mrs Hare-Naylor called to see Harriet's drawings in Rome.4 In February 1792 Harriet had applied to copy Titian's Venus in the Uffizi5 (where one of her drawings is preserved). She was particularly respected in Florence, receiving 'more civility and even friendship from the Italians than I dare say ever English woman did before her', wrote her brother (19 Nov. 1792), who later alleged that Harriet was 'the idol of the Italian Ladies'; 'there is scarce a hat a cap or a gown that they have not beg'd to have a copy, and seeing her and Lady Hervey on horseback every morning, many of them have attempted to ride in the English way' (12 Dec.).

It was a very hot summer in Florence and they led a tedious life. John Carr observed that the English were no longer as influential as they had been in Horace Mann's time (20 Jul.), but by September they were still arriving in crowds, there being some thirty guests at evening gatherings (24 Sep.), and the following February Carr commented that 'never were known so many English families in Italy as this year' (3 Feb. 1793). The Carrs watched the Carnival, during which, as John observed, 'the whole town appears to be mad' (12 Jan. 1793). In February the French formally declared war and many French artists arrived from Rome 'with their short-cut Hair, & High-crown Hats, resembling ... the Oliverian Round-Heads' (23 Feb.). In the summer of 1793 they spent some time with the Marchesa Venturi (who had a special regard for Harriet) at her house outside Florence and they visited Siena in September and again in November.

On 19 November 1793 they set out for Rome where they were particularly well received. 'Having been so long in Italy we are looked upon as half naturalised, and find every door open to receive us', wrote John, and the Princess Santa Croce 'charged herself with the trouble of presenting us every where' (1 Dec.). They again visited Naples in February and then, back in Rome in March, John described their plans to return home. When the roads were clear of 'the great crowd of English' they would return to Florence and proceed north through Innsbruck and Frankfurt. John Carr was presumably the 'Giovanni Kar Inglese' in Bergamo in July 1794.6 At the end, Harriet had successfully fought her illness through her 'fortitude and constancy of mind' (24 Apr. 1794) and, as an artist, she had been complimented by Lord Berwick as excelling 'all ladies in practise that are at present distinguished'.7 John had collected choice early editions of the classics and later Italian literature, while observing his resolution not to buy 'anything of cost' (19 Nov. 1792).

Two of Harriet's portraits of her brother existed in 1893, one at Dunston Hill, the other (now untraced) showing John Carr in classical drapery before a colonnade with a view of the temple of Vesta; her own portrait in water-colour, painted by Thaim in Florence in 1794, was at Badger Hall, Salop., in 1893.8 As the widowed Mrs Cheney, Harriet was to return to Italy in 1836.

1. R.E. and C.E. Carr, History of the Family of Carr,, 1:104 - 11. A.W. Purdue, Northern History, 30[1994]: 122 - 38. 2. Carr letters MSS, from which all quotations are taken, dates in brackets. 3. W. Sichel, Emma, Lady Hamilton, 133. 4. Mrs Flaxman jnl.MSS 2. 5. Borroni 1986, 83. 6. ASV IS 771. 7. Farington Diary (18 Sep. 1794). 8. See R.E. Carr (at n1), 1:127 - 130.