William Farrington

The sitter, aged twenty-four in this portrait, was from an old landed family in Lancashire. He was the cousin of the famous diarist and painter of watercolours, Joseph Farrington. Edward Penny, born in Knutsford, was trained in London and Italy, but he returned to the north-west to begin his career, specialising in portraits such as this. Later he moved back to London, where he became best known as a painter of moralising historical and literary subjects and as Professor of Painting at the Royal Academy.