(1731 - 94), o. surv. s. of Joseph Hinchliffe of Westminster; Trinity Camb. 1751; fell. 1754, DD 1764 and master 1768 - 88; vice-chanc. Camb. 1768; dean of Durham 1788; Bp. of Peterborough 1769 - 94; m. Elizabeth Crewe.
1761 - 2 [Brenner Pass, autumn 1761] Verona, Venice ( - 1 Dec.), Bologna (4 Dec.), Loreto, Rome (7 - 24 Dec. 1761), Naples (two weeks, Jan. 1762), Rome (by 6 Feb. - Apr.), Florence, Venice (May - 5 Jun.), Florence (by 12 Aug. - Sep.), Turin ( - by 3 Nov. 1762) [Lausanne, England Aug. 1763]
According to James Adam, Hinchliffe was 'a shrewd sensible man and one who is very profoundly knowing in a great many things'.1 He was in Italy as tutor to John Crewe and he described much of his journey in neatly written, unctuous letters addressed to his friend Mrs Walsingham, with one to his future patron the 3rd Duke of Grafton.2 In general Hinchliffe thought Italy was both corrupted and corrupting. 'If States like men have their different ages ... this of Italy surely is near its grave', he wrote (to Grafton, 5 May 1762). 'If licentiousness is the same thing as liberty, no nation upon earth enjoy an equal freedom with the Venetians' he supposed (8 Dec. 1761), and in Rome he deplored the dirt and the deserted aspect of the surrounding countryside (31 Mar. 1762).
But there were better moments, as when he first came to Rome: 'Never Pilgrim approached the tomb of Mahomet with an imagination more warmed, than I did yesterday the antient capitol of the world' (8 Dec. 1761). He commented favourably on the 'peace, decency and order' of the modern city, studied the antiquities and enjoyed the company of the Dukes of Grafton and Roxburghe, the Duchesses of Grafton and Bridgewater, Lord Tavistock and Sir Richard Lyttelton (31 Mar. 1762). He studied the orders of architecture under George Dance,3 and was particularly interested in painting, the one art in which the moderns excelled the ancients, and practised himself; 'I have got into oyl colours', he told Mrs Walsingham on 23 December 1761, '& handle the brush at present in imitation of Claude Lorrain'. In Florence, he witnessed a fire in the Uffizi [12 August 1762] and experienced a violent storm during which all the church bells were rung as they were supposed to 'to have some charm against lightning'; he otherwise 'employed most of the summer [of 1762 in Florence] in reading the Italian historians' (31 Aug. 1762).
Hinchliffe's grandson later alleged that his grandfather had met Canaletto in Venice. Seeing 'a little man making a sketch of the Campanile', Hinchliffe approached to discover 'a master-hand and hazarded the artist's name, 'Canaletti'. The man looked up and replied, 'mi conosce'. Thereupon a conversation ensued' and Canaletto invited Hinchliffe to his studio the following day; having asked if he might purchase 'the painting about to be made from the sketch he had seen the artist take, Canaletti not only agreed to this, but, in addition, presented him with the sketch itself, as a complimentary gift'.4
Towards the end of his Italian journey Hinchliffe confided to Mrs Walsingham 'I cannot see what has induced the generality of travellers to extol this country ... for my part I am satisfied that the dangers of travelling far exceed the boasted advantages ... & a young man must have an extraordinary share of prudence to return home with as few vices & follies as he set out' (31 Aug. 1762).
1. Fleming, Adam, 368. 2. Hinchliffe letters MSS (dates in brackets). 3. Dance letters MSS (G. Dance, 10 Apr. 1762). 4. E. Hinchliffe, Barthomley, [1856], 53n.