James Charles

James Charles was born on 5th January 1851 in Warrington, Lancashire. He was the son of the Welsh cabinet-maker and designer, Richard Charles, and began working in his father's office at fourteen. He initially studied at Heatherlys School, then at the Royal Academy from 1872 and finally in Paris, at the Académie Julian, where he was influenced by the plein-air movement. Initially a painter of portraits, Charles later became wholly occupied with landscape and rustic genre painting. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1875 to 1906, and also at the New Gallery, Grosvenor Gallery and the Paris Salon between 1897 and 1905. He was a member of the N.E.A.C. from 1886-7 and continued to exhibit there until the end of his life. He was awarded a Silver Medal at the Paris International Exhibition in 1889.From 1887 to 1889 he lived at South Harting, Sussex; from 1889 to 1895 he lived at Bosham. He lived in Chelsea until 1896 and then settled in East Ashling, near Chichester, Sussex. He died while on a visit to Wales on the 27th August in 1906. A memorial exhibition of his work was held in the Leicester Galleries in 1907.