Little is known of the sitter except that he was the eldest son of Henry Fermor (d. I746) of Tusmore, Oxfordshire. He was painted in Rome both by Mengs and his rival Pompeo Batoni, as Horace Walpole recorded in a list of pictures by Mengs in England in his Anecdotes of Painting in England: 'Mr Farmer, a Roman Catholic, son of lady Brown, has his own portrait both by Mencks and Pompeio'.
More information
Title of artwork, date
Portrait of William Fermor, 1757
Date supported
1978
Medium and material
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
62 x 47 cm
Grant
2500
Total cost
11900
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