Great Masters

James Ward was born in London and studied engraving with J.R Smith and his elder brother William. He began to paint animals and exhibited his paintings for the first time at the Royal Academy in 1790 before the Prince of Wales appointed him as his official painter and engraver. An associate member of the Royal Academy in 1807 Ward was appointed academician in 1811 and the Directors of the British Institution prize for his allegory of Waterloo in 1817.

Ward retired in 1830 in Cheshunt where he ended his career. Meanwhile his technique and themes had changed considerably. His animal paintings of his debuts were quite faithful images as those produced by other artists during the 18th Century before he became much more impetuous from 1795 with a marked inclination for what was to become the Romantic movement, notably with his Bulls Fighting painted in 1803-4 now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, a work which was much admired by Delacroix and Gricault.

Though he was a pioneer of Romanticism, Ward liked to refer to Rubens above all. Between 1811 and 1815 he dedicated much of his time to painting a large composition called the Gordale March, now in the Tate Gallery in London, a rather cold looking work despite being imbued with much Romanticism. He then painted an allegory to the glory of Wellington but seems not much at ease with large scale paintings. He however found some dramatic impetuosity with such works as Marengo, Napoleons charger painted in 1826.

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