Welbore Ellis Agar

Welbore Ellis Agar FRS (1735 – 30 October 1805) was an Anglo-Irish gentleman, senior officer of HM Revenue and Customs, and art collector, who lived most of his life in Mayfair, Westminster.

Life Agar was the middle son of Henry Agar of Gowran Castle, County Kilkenny, and his wife Anne Ellis, a daughter of Welbore Ellis, Bishop of Meath. His elder brother became James Agar, 1st Viscount Clifden, while his younger brother was Charles Agar, a clergyman who as Bishop of Cloyne was created Earl of Normanton in the peerage of Ireland and ended his career as Archbishop of Dublin. After leaving school, he joined HM Revenue and Customs, which gave him a career with good prospects.

Agar lived most of his adult life in Mayfair, and his early years in the metropolis were colourful. the two notably sharing in a night of sexual revelry. A letter from Agar to Casanova survives.

Agar had two sons, both seemingly illegitimate, who were baptised at St Marylebone on 20 March 1798. Their mother's name was given as Mary Anne Agar.

Agar died on 30 October 1805 and was buried at St George's, Hanover Square, on 6 November.

Art collector Agar's activity as a buyer of pictures peaked in the 1780s and 1790s. He bought in England, but also through agents in France and Italy, and sometimes in person, By the time of his death, he owned some 120 works by old masters, including Velazquez, Poussin, Lorrain, Rubens, Murillo and Guido Reni.

After Agar's death, a great auction sale of his collection was planned and advertised by James Christie the Younger, acting on behalf of Agar's sons, to take place on 2 and 3 May 1806, and many picture dealers travelled to England from continental Europe; but in vain, as at the end of April the whole collection was bought by Earl Grosvenor

Will In his will, dated 25 June 1804, Agar leaves his estate to his two sons, describing them as "Welbore Felix Agar, now living with me at my house in New Norfolk Street, and Lieutenant Emanuel Felix Agar of the first Regiment of Life Guards and now living at Hyde Park Barracks". He also appoints them as his executors. As well as land, he mentions his collection of pictures. The will was proved by the sons in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury at London on 2 November 1805.