(1748 - 1811), e. s. of 4th D. of Devonshire; suc. mo. 1754 as Ld. Clifford; sty. M. of Hartington - 1764 when suc. fa. as 5th D.; m. 1 1774 Ldy. Georgiana Spencer (d. 1806), dau. of 1st E.Spencer, 2 1809 Ldy. Elizabeth Hervey, dau. of 4th E. of Bristol, wid. of J.T. Foster; KG 1782.
1768 - 9 Turin (Apr. - 3 May 1768), Venice (by 12 May - Jul.), Florence (28 Sep. - Oct.), Rome (by 9 Nov. - Dec.), Naples (Dec. 1768 - Jan. 1769), Rome (by mid-Jan.), Turin (23 Mar.), Venice (30 Apr. - 12 May - )
The 5th Duke of Devonshire did not cut an imposing figure during the year he spent in Italy. He went with his Derbyshire neighbour, William Fitzherbert of Tissington, and Henry Lyte accompanying them as their governor. They arrived at Turin at the end of April 1768 and left on 3 May: the Duke 'is a very bashful young man,' wrote the Marquess of Kildare, who met him there, 'speaks very little and is bien sauvage et bien gauche'.1 From Turin they went to Venice, where they stayed until at least July. While in Venice Fitzherbert appears to have commissioned two Venetian views from Guardi.2 James Wright, the British resident, was anxious to persuade the Duke to spend the heat of the summer in Florence, instead of returning to Milan and Turin as he intended,3 but the party did not reach Florence until the end of September.4 Antonio Carrara told David Garrick that the Duke 'cuts but a poor figure abroad, and is reckoned dull, if not stupid; he sees but little company, and does not show enough, considering his rank and his fortune'.5 The Duke appears with Fitzherbert and Lyte in Patch's caricature group The Music Lesson (priv. coll.), which was probably painted at this time.6 After attending Horace Mann's investiture with the Order of the Bath on 21 October,7 the Duke left Florence for Rome.
He shared the expenses of a trip to Tivoli on 15 November with Sir Watkin Williams Wynn and in December they shared an antiquarian tour of Rome under James Byres.8 On 30 December in Naples Sir Watkin's steward paid Fitzherbert his master's share 'to the evening concerts in Rome'.9 Their stay in Naples was brief and they returned to Rome in mid-January. Fitzherbert commissioned separate portraits of himself and Devonshire from Batoni (each dated 1768; Clark/Bowron 321 - 2) for Tissington Hall; in 1810 his son presented the Duke's portrait to Chatsworth. The Duke also sat to Maron (Chatsworth), 'but the face was so very bad that Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire, had it altered by (I Believe) Mr Rising, the cleaner of pictures - from Sir Joshua'.(10) The Duke reached Turin on 23 March 1769, intending to stay three weeks,11 and he was in Venice with Fitzherbert and Lyte on 30 April.(12) General James Pattison saw him there on 12 May 1769.(13)
1. Leinster Corr., 3:517. 2. See F. Russell, Burl.Mag., 138[1996]:7, 10. 3. SP 105/319, ff. 107, 151 (Wright, 2 May, 6 Jul. 1768). 4. Wal.Corr., 23:60n1. 5. Garrick Priv.Corr., 1:317. 6. Patch 1940, 36. 7. Wal.Corr., 23:63n1. 8. Wynn disbursements MSS (15 Nov., 9 Dec. 1768). 9. Ibid. (30 Dec. 1768). 10. W.G. Spencer, 6th D. of Devonshire, Handbook [1845], 61, 204. 11. SP 105/319, f.422 (Lynch, 24 Mar. 1769). 12. ASV IS 759. 13. Pattison letters MSS (12 May 1769).