James Digman Wingfield (1800–1872) was a British painter, known mainly for historical subjects, as well as for landscapes, portraits, and interiors. Wingfield was a member of the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

, where he displayed a number of portraits in 1835-1836. From then until 1872 he exhibited more than 38 works at the Royal Academy, 94 at the

British Institution The British Institution (in full, the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom; founded 1805, disbanded 1867) was a private 19th-century society in London formed to exhibit the works of living and dead artists; it w ...

, and 41 at Suffolk Street Exhibitions (later to become the

Royal Society of British Artists The Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy. History The RBA commenced with twenty-seven members, and took until 1876 to reach fif ...

). He had a successful career: individual works by Wingfield were priced at around 100 pounds during his lifetime. Wingfield was a resident of London during the period that he was active and scenes of London were featured in his works. Occasionally his paintings depicted specific incidents in literature or history; Pope was a favorite. In his later years he painted interiors and garden and park scenes, with figures in period costume. His 1849 painting of the ''Schönheitsgalerie'', or female portrait gallery, in Hampton Court was especially well received. The painting was used for the cover of a recent (2005) historical work, ''Tudor and Stuart Britain, 1485–1714'', by Roger Lockyer. Wingfield died in the spring of 1872; his works were sold by Christie's in July 1873.''Dictionary of painters and engravers: biographical and critical, Volume 2''
by Michael Bryan, Robert Edmund Graves, Sir Walter Armstrong; London: George Bell and Sons, 1889

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wingfield, James Digman 1800 births 1872 deaths 19th-century English painters English male painters Painters from London 19th-century English male artists