Skip to main content
Conservation Status: After Treatment
William James
Conservation Status: After Treatment
Image © Worcester Art Museum, all rights reserved.

William James

Artist (British, 1697–1764)
Date1744
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensions75.6 x 63.5 cm (29 3/4 x 25 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1910.3
Label TextDuring the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, British painting was dominated by foreign masters, particularly Dutch and Flemish. It was not until the eighteenth century that the English began to rival the work of their contemporaries from the Continent. One of the great masters of this period was William Hogarth, best known for biting satires of society that were popularized in now-famous engravings. He was also skilled as a portraitist, capable of capturing the true character of his sitters. In this pair of portraits, he suggested the confidence of the country squire William James (1704-81), who had been High Sheriff of Kent in 1732 at the age of twenty-eight, and the somewhat naïve, but refreshing, demeanor of his young wife, Elizabeth (1723-98). Proud of their fine London fashions, the two are shown in an oval format, which could reflect the influence of Hogarth's visit to Paris the preceding year.ProvenanceRichard James, Igtham Court Mantion House, Kent, England; then Colnaghi, London; then Knoedler & Co., London & New York; then sold to Worcester Art Museum, 1910.
On View
On view
Conservation Status: After Treatment
William Hogarth
1744
Mr. and Mrs. James Dunlop
Thomas Lawrence
about 1825
James P. Sturgis
American
early 19th century
Mrs. William Clark
William Merritt Chase
about 1915
William, 6th Baron Craven
Francis Cotes
1768
Still Life with Birds
William Gowe Ferguson
second half of the 17th century
The Costermonger
Sir William Orpen
1905
Trevor Plowden
William Owen
late 1790s
The Banks of the Loire
Joseph Mallord William Turner
about 1829
Dr. William Paine
James Sullivan Lincoln
1870s
William Carpenter
Ralph Earl
1779
William the Conqueror
Anna Chamberlain Freeland
1886