Circle of James Northcote, RA, 
British 1746-1831- 
Portrait of James Farrer (1751-1820),...

Circle of James Northcote, RA, 
British 1746-1831- 

Portrait of James Farrer (1751-1820), three-quarter length, in a brown coat and breeches, holding a gun, a dog at his side, in a landscape; 

oil on canvas, inscribed 'J. Farrer' (on the dog’s collar, lower left), further inscribed 'James Farrer / Born 1751 / Died 1820' on one of the horizontal stretcher bars, 127 x 102 cm. 

Provenance: 
The sitter; 
Thereafter stayed in the Farrer Family (Hung at Ingleborough Hall, Clapham, Yorkshire, until the 20^th century when transferred to the offices of Farrer & Co., 66 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London). 

Literature: 
H. Ward and W. Roberts, Romney, A Biographical and Critical Essay with a Catalogue Raisonné of his Works, London, 1904, II, p.52 (as by George Romney). 
A. Kidson, 'George Romney, A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings', New Haven and London, 2015, I, p.210 (mentioned under no.434). 

Note: 
James Farrer was the third son of James Farrer (1719-1766) of Clapham, Yorkshire, and brother to Oliver and Thomas (see lots 103 and 104). He joined Oliver in the firm and between them they were very successful. It is said that they acted for 'almost everybody who was anybody'. They made enough money to buy some 100,000 acres in Yorkshire, create the Ingleborough Estate and build Ingleborough Hall. He married Frances Lexham of Woodford in Essex and was the father to James William Farrer (see lot 105). 

A seated three-quarter length portrait of the sitter, when slightly older in age, was painted by Romney and is listed in Kidson, no.434, p.210. The present work was previously attributed to George Romney.