James Lonsdale (painter)

James Lonsdale (16 May 1777, Lancaster – 17 January 1839, London) was a fashionable and prolific English portrait painter who exhibited some 138 works at the Royal Academy between 1802 and 1838, and was one of the founders of the Society of British Artists.

[1] Lonsdale, who started off as a pattern designer at Margerison and Glover's print-works in Catterall, was encouraged as an artist by the Lancaster architect Richard Threlfall, of whom he exhibited a portrait in 1809.

Feeling that his future would hold more promise in the city, he moved to London, becoming a favourite pupil of Romney's, accompanying him abroad on several occasions.

Highly respected, his growing list of clients enabled him to purchase John Opie's studio at 8 Berners Street in the City of Westminster, where he remained until his death.

After settling into his new studio he made the acquaintance of the Duke of Norfolk, who commissioned him to do a large historical painting of King John and Magna Carta, which later was rendered in stained glass in Arundel Castle.