Figure 1.--This James Ward portrait was painted in 1797. He has managed to combine a portrait of a lanowbers three children, a landscape. and an animal--undoubtedly the father's prize bull. Unfortunately we do not know the name of the family. The title was 'Disobidence in danger'. We are not are sure what that means, perhaps the children were told to stasy away from the bull. The girls wear white Empire dresses and the boy a red skeleton suit. We are not sure why we see so many red skeleon suitsin perriod portraits. . It was the only bright color used for skleleton suits.

James Ward was a prolific artist during the Regency and early Victorian period. James was apprenticed to an engraver where his talent for drawing became evident. He began doing copies of famous artists and gradually bean doing paintings of his own. He is best known for his animal paintings and was one of the finest animal painters of Regency England, if not the best. Perhaps because of the focus on animals, he is somewhat neglected today. There was a real market for animal painting. Well to do Britons with country estates wanted depictions of their prized animals. Depictions of their crofters were of little, interest, but images of prized bulls and horses were a whole different matter. Hus work was not limited to animals. He did historical, landscapes, portraits, and religious works as well. He would often insert animals into his these many other works. A monumental depiction of the Battle of Waterloo for example emphasized horses even more than the men. His dynamic images were the very epitome of Romanticism. He was strongly influenced by Rubens and Van Dyck. He lived into his 80s, but the quality of his work deteriorated with age

Created: 7:15 PM 3/7/2026
Last updated: 7:15 PM 3/7/2026