Detail of Conversation Piece (Portrait of Sir Andrew Fountaine with Other Men and Women) by William Hogarth, c. 1730-35 - Fountaine is probably the figure on the far left, with a red sash and his left hand tucked into his brown jacket.[1]
Sir Andrew Fountaine (1676, Salle, Norfolk – 4 September1753, Narford Hall, Narford) was an English antiquarian, art collector and amateur architect.
On his father's death in 1707, he was appointed Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod and, whilst accompanying Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke to open the Irish parliament, became friends with Jonathan Swift (as is mentioned in Swift's letters and his Journal to Stella). He took a second grand tour in 1714, collecting maiolica, paintings and sculpture for himself and for the Earls of Pembroke (he later catalogued the 8th Earl's collection for his son the 9th earl). He succeeded Isaac Newton as warden of the Royal Mint in 1727, but retired from London in 1732 or 1733 to redesign the family seat of Narford Hall (working with the professional architect Roger Morris). At Narford he hung a portrait of his patroness Caroline of Ansbach on the staircase (she had made him her vice-chamberlain and tutor to her third son, William Augustus, and was William's proxy for his installation as knight of the Bath on 17 June 1725).
He died unmarried in Narford in 1753, and was buried there. When sold and dispersed in 1884, his collection was so large it took 4 days to auction.
