[1] In 1868, aged 16, he studied art at the Chicago Academy of Design under Walter Shirlaw until the great fire of 1871 destroyed everything (including much of the heart of the city).

In New York, he lived in his millionaire great-uncle's "Sherwood Studio Building", which was built specifically for artists, and was close to Cornelius Vanderbilt II House.

[2] In Paris he took drawing courses with Adolphe Yvon[3] and studied painting under Carolus Duran[4] who in 1877 selected Beckwith and John Singer Sargent to help him with a mural for the Palais du Luxembourg.

He won a gold medal at the Charleston Exposition in 1902[3] and exhibited at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904 showing his painting "The Nautilus" along with a portrait of his wife.

[5] James Carroll Beckwith died of a heart attack in his apartment at the Hotel Schuyler on West Forty-fifth Street in New York City on October 24, 1917, aged 65, after having taken a taxi cab ride with his wife in Central Park.