A native of Scotland, Ferguson is stated to have first studied art in his own country, and then travelled in France and Italy.
In 1681 he was living in the Batavier Graat, Amsterdam, and on 28 June he was betrothed to Sara van Someren of Stockholm.
[1] Ferguson acquired a good reputation in painting dead game and still life.
He also painted pictures introducing ruins and fragments of sculpture, with figures in the Italian style, under strong effects of light and shade.
[1] His pictures have in the past been considered favourably with works by then more fashionable artists, and signatures of Cornelis van Lelienbergh and Jan Weenix have been found on painting since attributed to him.