James Sharples

Background

He was born probably in 1751 in Lancashire, England, United Kingdom, but spent his youth in France.

Education

He studied for the priesthood in France until he realized that his bent was for art.

Career

Returning to England, where he settled after several moves at Bath, he began in 1779 to exhibit his pictures at the Royal Academy.

He displayed some ability as an inventor as well. A design of his for a "steam carriage" is registered in the patent office of Great Britain. In 1791 he published a pamphlet on Reducing Friction in Machinery, said to have been reprinted in 1856, and in 1804 one on Apparatus for Surveying, Etc.

In 1793 with his children Felix, James, and Rolinda, he set out for America, but the journey was a difficult one and it was not until after their vessel had been captured by a French privateer and they had been interned at Brest for seven months that they finally arrived. Sharples was soon painting portraits of men high in the military, civil, literary, and social life of the country. Although in England he had used oils, he now used pastels, crayons which he powdered and applied with a camel's hair pencil on a thick gray paper of soft grain and woolly texture.

In 1796 he settled in Philadelphia. About this time he made portraits of Washington and his wife. Copies of many of the portraits being in demand, his wife turned her talents to duplicating his efforts. The copying of their own portraits and of portraits by each other soon became a matter of course in the family, for James at fifteen and Felix at seventeen began professional art careers, and somewhat later Rolinda also turned to art. They did not sign their works, and in consequence much confusion and controversy have arisen in attempts to authenticate the work of the father.

In 1798 the Sharples family were living in New York; in 1801, because of the unsettled state of English finances, they returned to Bath and three years later went to London, where the father turned again to his mechanical pursuits. Soon, however, they were in Bath again.

After the return to America Sharples made his headquarters in New York but wandered through New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, and often visited his son James in Albany; Felix, who was something of a rover but loved the South, seldom left that part of the country for long.

The elder Sharples died of a heart attack in New York, his last wish being that his family should settle permanently in England.

Achievements

• James Sharples quickly became popular for his small portraits in pastel and his miniatures, the most famous: Portrait of a lady of quality (1782), A Newcastle lady in the character of Spring (1785). Especially he was well-known for his inexpensive copies from the originals portraits of George Washington Hester Thrale, Joseph Priestley and James Madison. The main peculiarity was that he painted together with his children, which sometimes made it hard to distinguish the original from the duplicate.

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• According to Mrs. Sharples' diary, he "was generally engaged drawing in crayons the portraits of the most distinguished Americans, foreign Ministers and other distinguished visitants from Europe".

Connections

He was married three times. Of the first two wives little is known except that by the first he had a son, George, and by the second a son, Felix Thomas. His third wife was Ellen Wallace, a young lady of fashion and good family, whom he met through an art class he conducted in Bath. Their son James was born probably in Liverpool in 1788, and their daughter Rolinda in Bath in 1793.

Spouse:

Ellen Wallace

Daughter:

Rolinda Sharples

Son:

George Sharples

Son:

James Sharples

Son:

Felix Thomas Sharples

Friend:

N.

He too had a collection of pastels which he is said to have left as security for a loan with his friend Winder of "Yardley," Northampton County, N. C., intending to reclaim his property.