Captain Marmion Edward Ferrers (1813-1884) holding a narwhal horn

Rebecca Dulcibella Orpen Ferrers, later Mrs Edward Henege Dering (1830 – 1923). Oil painting on canvas, Captain Marmion Edward Ferrers holding a Narwhal Horn by Rebecca Dulcibella Orpen (1830-1923), inscribed, signed and dated, 1870. A three-quarter length portrait of the artist's first husband standing looking out at the spectator with his left hand on his hip and holding a narwhal horn in his right. He has dark brown hair and a short beard with a moustache. He wears a dark blue velvet house coat trimmed with russia braid and a scarlet cloak is thrown over his right shoulder. There is a desk and other objects in the foreground, including a red box and a small black bust. Behind the sitter to the right is a window with a leaded pane of stained glass describing a coat of arms. A view of landscape and blue sky can be seen through it. There is a painted coat of arms at top left. The narwhal horn seen in the painting is still at Baddesley Clinton. He was the son of Edward Ferrers (1790-1830) and Lady Harriet Townshend (d.1845) the daughter of George Townshend, 16th Baron Ferrers of Chartley, 2nd Marquess Townshend and Earl of Leicester of Tamworth Castle; married Rebecca Dulcibella Orpen (1830-1923) as her first husband. They were joined at Baddesley Clinton by Edward Heneage Dering (1826-1892) and his wife Georgiana, Lady Chatterton (1806-1876) the widow of Sir William Chatterton (1794-1855), and the life of the four friends, known to each other as 'The Quartet' and their obsessive interest in the history of the house, is attested by the numerous paintings of them which were done by Dulcibella. After Marmion Edward's death, in 1885 she married Edward Dering, by then a widower. Baddesley Clinton, Warwickshire (Accredited Museum)