(b. c.1752), possibly s. of Adml. Samuel Graves (1713 - 87).
- 1787 - 97 - Rome
It appears there were two or three British residents in Rome by the name of Graves at the end of the century, all said to be related to Admiral Sir Thomas Graves of Thanckes, Cornwall. At present it seems impossible to disentangle their separate identities.
A George Graves exported 'about 160' small pictures from Rome in July 1787.1 A Mr and Mrs Graves were noticed in Rome in November 1789,2 conceivably the 'Giorgio [Greny Grevy] Inglese - 40' and his wife 'Anna Caterina - 26' living in the Scesa di S.Giuseppe, Rome in 1792 - 3 and 1795.3 In February 1791 Whaley Armitage met Mr and Mrs Graves in Rome, finding them friendly and kind; Mr Graves collected Etruscan vases; on 17 May Mr Graves in Naples was about to embark for Greece and Egypt with Charles Berners and Henry Tilson.4 A manuscript account of a 'Tour from Rome to Sicily, Malta and the Coast of Africa: through most of the Islands of the Archipelago to Athens, Corinth and Asia Minor ... made in the years 1791 and 1792',5 formerly attributed to Frederick North, is now thought to be by Graves.6
In April 1793 Sir William Forbes met Graves in Rome, describing him as a relation of Admiral Graves, and one of a party who had been to Sicily, Egypt and the Archipelago.7 Lady Knight described him as 'a purser' in Rome who visited Egypt in 1792, leaving his wife in Rome, 'a pretty and a good sort of woman. I hear he left England for debts, and I know not what ... He is brother of the Admiral' [see William Graves] and had 'resided some time at Rome'; in August 1793 he was intending to return home.8 On 28 May 1793 in Rome Lady Webster saw some 'most accurately executed' drawings of oriental subjects, 'in the possession of a Mr Greaves who accompanied Messrs [Charles] Berners and [Henry] Tilson in their expedition into Greece, Asia Minor, and Egypt'.9
In May 1793 (i.e. at the same that Lady Webster saw the travel drawings) Lady Palmerston had seen a Mr Greves's collection of pictures in Rome: 'he has laid out an immense sum and as there are very few purchasers at present, he is, I believe, very much distressed. He had bought a most amazing fine collection of Guercino's, but he asks £;1,000 for one, but I believe he would take half'.(10) In 1797 Artaud mentioned a Mr Graves in Rome who had commissioned pictures from Kaisermann and Milner,11 and in March 1797 'Giorgio Graves' (accompanied by Miller) was buying antique marbles from Pacetti in Rome.(12)
Pictures belonging to a Mr George Graves were sold in 1803 (Christie's, 6 May), described as having been collected 'during many years residence at Rome and in different parts of Italy' and purchased 'from out of some of the most distinguished Palaces in the Papal Territory'. A 'Mr Greave' who died in London on 9 June 1802 aged seventy-five was then described as having been 'long known as a collector of prints and pictures'.(13)
1. ASR aba 12, f.294. 2. Gibbes jnl.mss (19 Nov. 1789). 3. AVR sa, S.Andrea delle Fratte. 4. Armitage jnl.mss (8 Feb., 17 May 1791). 5. Bodl., mss Eng.misc.c.433 - 4 (ex Sotheby's, 29 Jun. 1965). 6. Note by M.J. Stanley. 7. Forbes jnl.mss (6 Apr. 1793). 8. Knight, Letters, 172, 189. 9. Holland Jnl., 1:32 - 3. 10. Connell 1957, 285. 11. Artaud letter bk.mss (4 Dec. 1797). 12. Pacetti giornale, 11, 12, 13 Mar. 1797. 13. GM, 72[1802]:592.