James Sharples 1751-1811. Anglo-American School Portrait of a lady in profile, inscribed 'James Sharples Bath' (to backboard). Pastel.
23 x 17.5 (oval image). 30.5 by 25.5 cms. Overall in period gilt gesso frame. Provenance: With Trim Bridge Galleries Bath.
Sharples was a successful portrait painter mainly in pastels, born in Lancashire ca.1751. Reputedly a pupil of George Romney. He began exhibiting at Liverpool in 1774 and at the Royal Academy from 1779. From the 1790s he established himself in Philadelphia and New York producing small crayon portraits (the most notable being that of George Washington, used in reproduction on US postage stamps). He returned to the UK (Bath) from 1801-1809. Returning to New York and dying there in 1811.