Charles Cromwell was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1796 or 1797. The descendant of an English officer serving under Cromwell in that country. Ingham is said to have recalled his childish pleasure in examining at his grandfather's house the portraits of his forebears clad in the decorative costume of the period. As a child in petticoats he sat for his own portrait, and from this experience he dated his interest in drawing and painting.
At thirteen Ingham began the study of drawing at the Royal Dublin Society, where he remained for one year. Then for several years he was a pupil of William Cuming (1769 - 1852), a painter of women's portraits in Dublin. While still a student, Ingham painted a picture in oils entitled "Death of Cleopatra, " for which he received a prize. This painting was later shown at the first exhibition of the American Academy of Fine Arts in New York, where it was generally regarded as a marvelous piece of work for so young an artist.
At the age of twenty, Ingham accompanied his family to New York, where in time he became a successful painter, specializing in portraits of women and children.
Besides the fashionable beauties of New York, distinguished men also sat for him, among whom were the Marquis de Lafayette (1825), the scholar and publicist, Gulian C. Verplanck (1830), and DeWitt Clinton. These three portraits are in the collection of the New York Historical Society. That of Lafayette is the original head from which was painted the full-length portrait for the State of New York now in the State Department in Albany. The portrait of William Dunlap in the collection of the National Academy of Design should also be mentioned.
Among the early popular works of the artist were his "Young Girl Laughing" and "The Black Plume". His paintings of miniatures on ivory probably influenced his method in oils. The flesh portions were painted in successive layers which gave them a hard finish like that of ivory.
He was a professor in National Academy of Design's school, and one of the founders of the Sketch Club in 1847. He died in New York City.
Charles Cromwell Ingham occupied a front rank with his brother as a portrait painter, known for his paintings of young women of New York's upper class He painted over 200 portraits between 1826 and 1845, such famous as those including portraits as Flower Girl (1846), Day Dream, and Portrait of a Child. Refinement of detail to a minute degree and lack of strength are the outstanding marks of his style, yet his rich and brilliant coloring atones in part for the weakness in composition and lack of feeling for line. Besides paintings in oil he sucessfully executed miniatures in water colors on ivory, that also was highly praised.
Ingham was one of the original members of the National Academy of Design (1826).
Ingham was painstaking and deliberate in his painting, with the natural result that he wearied his sitters.
The few letters written by Ingham which are now available and a contribution to The Crayon (November 1858), entitled "Public Monuments to Great Men, " reveal that he had a considerable background of culture, and was an "accomplished gentleman" of the day as well as an artist.
