Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jervais, Thomas
JERVAIS (JARVIS), THOMAS (d. 1799), glass-painter, was a native of Dublin, and practised there, together with his brother John (d. 1804), as a glass-painter, paying great attention to the scientific details of his profession. He was advised to come to London, and on his arrival there he was employed by Lord Cremorne to paint numerous small bits of glass for his villa at Chelsea. Jervais painted on glass in opaque colours, and held an exhibition at Charing Cross of specimens from his works, including effects of moonlight, firelight, and winter scenes. In 1777 he was employed to execute his most important work, the transference on to glass of Sir Joshua Reynolds's designs for the great window in New College Chapel, Oxford. This work was completed in 1787, and was much admired at the time, though both the design and the execution have since been severely censured. Another work of a similar description, executed in conjunction with his pupil, Forrest, was the filling in of the great east window of St. George's Chapel, Windsor, with stained glass from a huge design by Benjamin West, representing the ‘Resurrection.’ This was also greatly admired, and a solemn service was held at its inauguration, at which Miss Burney was present (see Madame d'Arblay, Diary, 1 Jan. 1787). As at New College, both the design and Jervais's method of execution were wholly unsuited to the place, and the window has now been removed. Jervais on retiring from his profession lived at Windsor, where he died on 29 Aug. 1799. In the design of the ‘Nativity’ in the upper portion of the window at New College, Reynolds introduced his own portrait and that of Jervais as shepherds. The original drawing is now at Wentworth Woodhouse, Yorkshire.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Dallaway's Anecdotes of the Arts in England; Gent. Mag. lxix. (1799) 819; Leslie and Taylor's Life and Times of Sir Joshua Reynolds.]