[3] In 1849 James Stark relocated to London for the sake of the education of his son, who entered the Royal Academy schools in the same year.

His ability became known, and in 1874, from a fear of hampering his progress, he declined a private offer of the post vacated by the death of Frederick William Keyl, an animal painter to Queen Victoria.

He married on 20 Nov. 1878, at Ascot, Rose Isabella youngest daughter of Thomas Fassett Kent, counsel to the chairman of committees in the House of Lords.

[1] Stark was one of the last artists of the Norwich School (of which his father was a chief disciple), and probably the only one to acquire a reputation for animal painting.

He was fond of depicting homely English scenes, such as haymaking, harvesting, and the farmyard; his landscapes were largely derived from the Thames valley (especially the neighbourhood of Sonning), Surrey, and Norfolk.

Among his works were A Water Mill (1848), Forest Scene (1850), Interior of a Stable (1853), A Quiet Nook (1857), A Shady Pool (1861), In Moor Park, Rickmansworth (1865), Timber Carting (1874), A Farmyard (1875), and Dartmoor Drift (1877) — the last-named was one of his best paintings.