Joseph Highmore 1692-1780

Brian Fairfax, A Description of Easton Neston in Northamptonshire ....., 1758, p.63 ('Thomas Fermor Earl of Pomfret and his wife Henrietta by Seeman');
George Baker, The History and Antiquities of the County of Northamptonshire, 1838, Part IV, p.145 hanging in The Gallery;
GTL 1889, p.52, no.104, in The Gallery

The sitter was the son and heir of William Fermor, 1st Baron Lempster and his third wife, Lady Sophia, daughter of Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds.  He was educated at Christ Church and in 1718 set off for Italy with Martin Benson, later Bishop of Gloucester, reaching Rome in June.  Dr John Hay described him as "a truly virtuous sensible and worthy young Nobleman".  He set about buying paintings and met William Kent who painted a Hercules and his Mistress Eola for him.  They visited Padua twice in 1719, and returned to Easton Neston in 1720.  On 14th July that year he married Henrietta Louisa, only daughter of John Baron Jeffreys (see lot 18), a scholarly lady who was later to accompany him on a second visit to Italy.  In December 1721 he was created Earl of Pomfret, and made Knight of the Bath in 1725.  He was Master of the Horse to Queen Caroline from 1727 to 1737, and Governor of Guernsey from 1739 to 1742.  In 1739 he set off on his second journey to Italy with his wife and their two daughters, Lady Sophia (who later married 2nd Earl Granville) and Lady Charlotte (who later married the Hon. William Finch).  Horace Walpole described Lady Charlotte as "the cleverest girl in the world; speaks the purest Tuscan like any Florentine".  They spent a year in France, reaching Genoa on 12th June 1739.  They visited Siena and settled in Florence in December, staying at the Palazzo Rudolfi, where they were visited by Horace Walpole and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.  In December 1740 they were joined by their son George, who stayed for two months.  They finally left Florence in March 1741, returning to England via Rome, Bologna and Venice.  Lord Pomfret was a man of great taste, who took a keen interest in the Arundel marbles which had been acquired by his father.