Franz de Paula Ferg (1689 – 1740)

• Was an Austrian painter, draughtsman, and printmaker.
• He painted primarily scenes of daily life, such as people interacting in markets and villages.
• Ferg was born in Vienna on 2nd May 1689.
• He was the son of the history painter Adam Pancraz Ferg, from whom he received his initial artistic education.
• His father then placed him under a painter called Baschueber, with whom he remained for four years.
• He soon gained a great reputation for small landscapes and sea-pieces with figures, and for fairs and peasant scenes in the style of Ostade, Berchem, and Poelenburg.
• He eventually settled in London.
• Although he found plenty of employment there, he drifted into depressed circumstances.
• One night in 1740 he was found dead in the street, not far from his lodgings, in a condition of great destitution.
• His pictures are frequently met with in private collections in England and in public galleries abroad, notably Brunswick, Dresden, and Vienna.
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