Count Ferdinand Joseph Maria of Salern (1718 – 7 December 1805) was an illegitimate son of Prince Ferdinand Maria Innocenz of Bavaria (1699-1738) and Countess Marie Adelheid Fortunata of Spaur.

He was thus a nephew of Emperor Charles VII and his brothers Clemens Augustus, elector and archbishop of Cologne, and Cardinal Johann Theodore, bishop of Freising, Regensburg and Liège.

As the General Intendant for music at the Bavarian court, he was a patron of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

In the painting at the top of this article, he is represented as a trusted friend of his cousin Maximilian III Joseph, in the "woodturning" cabinet at Nymphenburg Palace.

He had a son with her; His second wife was Countess Josepha of La Rosee (died 1772).