Franz de Paula Ferg

1689 Vienna – 1740 London

The painter and etcher Franz de Paula Ferg received his initial artistic training from his father, Adam Pankratz Ferg, and subsequently studied under Georg Andreas Washuber, Hans Graf and Joseph Orient. Ferg’s chequered career epitomizes that of a peripatetic minor master who tried his luck in various European towns. Ferg left Vienna in 1718 and later spent time in Bamberg and Leipzig, where he made the acquaintance of Johann Alexander Thiele, whom he accompanied to Dresden and for whose landscapes he provided the staffage. In 1720, after a sojourn in northern Germany, the artist went to London, where he produced landscapes with ruins, seascapes and genre scenes. After initial successes Ferg allegedly died a pauper in London.