Three Generations

Finely drawn in India ink on vellum, these portraits depict three generations of the Filkes Family of Devizes in Wiltshire: little Abel Filkes (b.1748), his parents John (1720-1760) and Elizabeth (1710-1797), and his maternal grandfather Abel Grant (1677-1753).

John Filkes worked alongside his brother and father in the Devizes textile trade as a wool stapler: effectively a middleman buying fleeces, grading them and selling them on to be woven into cloth. He and Elizabeth married in 1747 and had two sons. Elizabeth’s father, Abel Grant, was a prosperous merchant in Bristol who had a financial stake in five galley ships – Richard and Mary, Salisbury, Kingston, Brown and Berkeley – importing tallow, sugar and other commodities. Abel Jun. in his cute peaked cap was just 16 months old when his likeness was drawn. He grew up to follow in the footsteps of his paternal uncle becoming an apothecary.

Little Abel’s portrait was taken in 1750; the other three are earlier. Ferguson has successfully captured the characteristics of each sitter from John’s straining waistcoat buttons and Elizabeth’s gentleness to Abel Sen.’s formidable ‘don’t mess with me’ expression and Abel Jun.’s captivating innocence. The portraits reside in their original turned wood frames, each inscribed on the backing paper with the sitter’s details. Apart from an area of camouflaged insect damage to Abel Sen.’s coat and the lightest of smudges to the outside edge, they are in remarkably fresh and clean condition.

The artist and polymath James Ferguson was born into a poor Scottish family. With the help of his father and an elderly neighbour, he taught himself to read and write. As he grew up he developed a love for astronomy and mechanics and was engaged to several masters, some encouraging but others treating him cruelly. He began drawing his distinctive miniature portraits in 1734 whilst a guest at the Edinburgh home of Lady Dipple. His first sitter was reportedly Lady Jane Douglas who was so pleased with her portrait that she encouraged her friends to commission the young artist. His artistic career spanned 26 years and enabled him to study anatomy, surgery and physics but ultimately it was his love of astronomy that was to dominate his life and career. He published several books from 1745 onwards.