(1742 - 1829), e. s. of John Crewe of Crewe Hall, Ches.; educ. Westminster and Ch.Ch. Oxf. 1760; Dilettanti 1764; m. 1766 Frances Greville; MP 1765 - 1802; cr. B. Crewe 1806.
1761 - 2 [Brenner pass, autumn 1761] Verona, Venice ( - 1 Dec.), Bologna (4 Dec.), Rome (7 - 24 Dec. 1761), Naples (Jan. 1762), Rome (by 6 Feb. - Apr.), Florence, Venice (May - 5 Jun.), Florence ( - Sep.), Turin ( - by 3 Nov.) [England Aug. 1763]
'Young rich Mr Crewe, a Maccarone'1 made his grand tour with Dr John Hinchliffe whose letters (Hinchliffe letters MSS) provide much of their itinerary. Batoni's portrait of Crewe (Clark/Bowron 248; priv. coll.) is said to be dated 1760, but Crewe and Hinchliffe came over the Brenner Pass in the autumn of 1761. They were conceivably the 'Odoardo Stanistholif' and 'Giovanni Crosr?' who arrived in Venice on 12 October 1761; they certainly left Venice on 1 December with Captain Edward Hughes and sailed to Bologna in three days. The Abb? Grant met Crewe in Rome in February 1762.2 Crewe and Hinchliffe expressed 'reverence' for Horace Mann in Florence.3 They visited Venice for Ascension in 17624 and Crewe bought in Venice, presumably in 1762, Canaletto's own memento of England, the Whitehall and the Privy Garden.5 By 3 November 1762 they had left Turin for Lausanne.6 The following July James Martin met them in Paris,7 and by August they were back in England.8 See Hinchliffe.
Crewe was an active collector: James Martin subsequently saw some 'beautiful views' destined for Crewe in James Forrester's studio in Rome, as well as Cignaroli's sketch for Hector taking leave of Andromache, at Vicenza9 (Sotheby's, 7 Dec. 1994).
1. Wal.Corr., 38:394. 2. W. Fraser, Chiefs of Grant, 2:535. 3. Wal.Corr., 10:98. 4. ASV IS 758. 5. Constable-Links, no.439. 6. SP 105/314, f.357 (Phelps, 3 Nov. 1762). 7. Martin jnl.MSS (22 Jul. 1763). 8. Wal.Corr., 10:96. 9. Martin jnl.MSS (9 Jul. 1764, 26 Feb. 1765).