Farrar (McKechnie Section 2)

One of those artists none of whose work is known, but who may have been responsible for some of the fine painted profiles of c. 1780 which exist in collections today, and which cannot be definitely attributed to a particular hand. In a Bath Guide of 1780 I noticed the following entry in the List of Artists: 'Farrar, Profile-Painter, at Miss Bennett's, Paragon.' Long lists two artists named Farrer, but both were working well after 1800, and no artist named Farrar, or Farrer, seems to have been recorded in previous reference books on silhouettes. The Paragon is a well known terrace of Georgian houses in Bath, first leased, according to R. E. M. Peach (Streetlore of Bath, London and Bath, 1893), in 1768. In a list of ‘Painters, Artists and Sculptors who flourished in Bath in the last century’, Peach gives references to ‘Farrar, Miss, 1778, Paragon’ and ‘Farrar, 1778, Paragon’. It therefore seems that two artists named Farrar were known to Peach, one possibly the daughter of the other, and both living in 1778 in the Paragon. Since at the head of his list he states that ‘in the majority of cases only the date of arrival is given’, he presumably had some evidence that the Farrars arrived in Bath in 1778. The word ‘at’ in the entry in the Bath Guide suggests only a temporary stay, but, be that as it may, Farrar (who was presumably the father) was in Bath, working purely as a ‘Profile-Painter’ for at least two seasons. If even only one signed example of his work came to light, many early painted profiles might be rescued from anonymity.