Clephane, Dr John
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- Clephane, Dr John
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(1705 - 58), s. of Col. William Clephane; studied medicine in Antwerp 1725 - 7; MD St Andrews 1729; FRS 1746; phys. to St George's Hospital 1751, FRCP 1752.
1739 - 40 [Dijon by 18 Aug.; Geneva, by 2 Oct. 1739] Turin (late Oct.), Milan, Florence (6 Nov. 1739), Leghorn ( - 23 Jan. 1740), Naples, Rome (by early Feb.), Venice (by 29 Apr. - May) [London by Jul.]
1741 - 2 [dep. London 1 Oct. 1740] Genoa ( - 22 Apr. 1741), Milan (by 7 May), Venice (by 18 - 31 May), Bologna (4 - 8 Jun.), Florence (10 Jun.), Pisa (by 18 Jun.), Florence (19 Jun. - Oct.), Rome (by 23 Oct. 1741 - after 16 Feb. 1742), Naples (by 13 Mar.), Rome (by 23 Mar. - Apr.), Bologna (late Apr. - 10 May), Parma, Piacenza [London by 28 Jun.]
1744 - 5 [dep. London after 19 Oct. 1742; Geneva Feb. 1743] Florence (Jul. 1744 - after 11 Oct.), Rome (by 24 Oct. 1744 - after 13 Mar. 1745), Naples
Clephane's father was a Jacobite in exile after the failure of the 1715 rebellion. John joined him at Antwerp c.1725,1 but returned to Scotland after his father's death in 1727. In 1731 he was at Groningen, superintending the studies of Lord Sherard Manners and in 1731 - 7 he acted as tutor to his brothers, Lords Robert and Charles Manners.
It was perhaps at the suggestion of John Blackwood, the Scottish-born picture dealer, that Clephane was selected as tutor to his stepson, the 2nd Lord Mansell. They set out in the summer of 1739, meeting Horace Walpole at Geneva on 2 October. In Florence G.F. Bianchi was paid 9 sequins for taking the party of three round the pictures for five days.2 After sailing from Leghorn to Naples, Mansell and Clephane reached Rome in early February 1740 and took an apartment near the Strada della Croce. Mansell commissioned a major history picture from Batoni, The Sacrifice of Iphigenia (Wemyss Collection, on loan to NGS), before his departure for Venice, where the party attended the Ascension Day celebrations.
Within a few months of his return to England, Clephane set out on a similar tour, as tutor to John Bouverie, whose subsequent career as a collector may have been influenced by his encouragement. Before leaving with Bouverie and his companions on 1 October, Clephane received commissions from Blackwood, Mansell and Lord Duncannon. While in Provence en route for Italy Clephane corresponded about these with Blackwood and Duncannon, writing to Mark Parker about a picture by Imperiali and to Richard Dalton. The party stayed in Florence from June until October, living in Horace Mann's 'little house': the Ambassador thought Bouverie and his friends 'the most silent creatures' he 'ever saw', but was called on by Clephane 'some times'.3 While at Florence Clephane learnt from Blackwood of Sir Jacob Bouverie's acquisition of the Gerini Poussins (London and Melbourne), and corresponded with consul Joseph Smith at Venice: after his departure Ignazio Hugford acted as intermediary to purchase a picture which Clephane had seen at Rossi's in Florence, Carlo Dolci's Saint Cecilia, and was evidently intended for Blackwood.4
Bouverie's party was based in Rome from late October 1741 until late February 1742, and then went on to Naples, returning to Rome by late March. On 10 February Clephane bought Veronese's Mars and Venus (probably SNG no.339), previously in the Altieri collection, for Blackwood (300 crowns); on the 16th he made payments for Mansell to Panini and Imperiali's widow (150 and 100 scudi); and on 23 March he paid Batoni 30 crowns for the Sacrifice of Iphigenia. On the 24th his letter book records a letter to Blackwood with a 'sketch of ye Rubens at Naples'. He was in touch with Allan Ramsay, and buying bronzes for William Bristow, who asked him to visit the sculptor Joseph Canarte in Naples. Clephane was also enlisted as an intermediary by Mann in negotiations for a sculpture ordered from Filippo della Valle by Walpole. After leaving Rome, Clephane received a series of letters from Pierre Berton, whom he had asked to oversee the Batoni commission (and also to act as intermediary with Agostino Masucci, who was to complete Imperiali's unfinished Vetturia and Volumnia before Coriolanus, which Blackwood had ordered for Sir Gregory Page). The first of Berton's letters reached Clephane at Bologna on 10 May. The party was in Paris by early June. After Clephane's return to England he received a letter of 13 July from Batoni and further letters from Berton. Clephane was with Lord Mansell at Margam in August when he was asked by the Earl of Mountrath, at his host's uncle Bussy Mansell's suggestion, to act as tutor to his son Lord Coote (later 7th Earl of Mountrath).
Coote cannot have been a congenial charge. His father had already warned Clephane: 'I am sorry to say Ld Coote requires more looking after than lyes in my power'. The two set off in October 1742, Clephane keeping full acounts of expenditure until January 17455 and drafts of his reports to Mountrath. They wintered between Geneva and Lyons, where Clephane received letters from Blackwood which cast further light on previous commissions.
Coote and Clephane reached Florence in July 1744 and were at Rome by 24 October. There they associated with others on the tour of Italy: Joseph Leeson placed an order for a 'Dresden snuff box' with Clephane, while James Dawkins asked him to order a set of the Seasons from Rosalba Carriera.6 Further commissions were communicated in a letter of 13 November from Blackwood, including a dozen busts for the Hon. John Stanhope, and tables, statuary and a picture for Sir Gregory Page.7 Stanhope's busts were ordered from Pietro Cipriani in Florence, where Mann acted for Clephane, and in turn asked him to assist Gabriel Mathias who wished to study under Batoni. In January 1745 Clephane ordered, presumably for a client, two marines from Vernet, which would be ready by 1 January 1746. Letters from James Howe at Leghorn document other transactions: on 22 February 1745 an unspecified picture was received from Hugford at the cost of £;108 8s. 8d., and on 1 March bronzes ordered by Lord Duncannon are mentioned.8 Coote and Clephane had some difficulty in securing passports to proceed to Naples and Cardinals Valenti and Albani were instrumental in securing the necessary documents on 13 March.
After his return to England, Clephane concentrated on his medical career. He was to have a place in the close-knit coterie of Scots in London, being an acquaintance of Lord Bute and a friend and correspondent of David Hume. On 12 July 1753 he received a letter from Robert Wood, asking him to commission a French translation of his account of the discoveries he and Dawkins had made at Palmyra and Baalbec.9
1. See Register of Letters, 2[1817]:367 - 8. See DNB; P. Jenkins, NLW Jnl., 22[1982]:4, 416 - 26; F. Russell, Burl.Mag., 127[1985]:890 - 93; Rose of Kilravock MSS, and Penrice and Margam MSS (NLW). 2. Cf.Rose of Kilravock MSS, 33/87-113. 3. Wal.Corr., 17:67, 97. 4. Rose of Kilravock MSS, 33/22 (28) and 125/33/7. 5. Rose of Kilravock MSS, 33/57. 6. Ibid., 33/7. 7. Ibid., 26/3 (12). 8. Ibid., 26/5 (12 and 13). 9. Ibid., 27/1 (5).
F. R.