James Sant

Sant was born in Croydon, Surrey, England, on 23 April 1820. He was taught first by the watercolourist John Varley, then by Augustus Wall Callcott,{{cite web |title=The Library of Nineteenth Century Photography |url=http://www.19thcenturyphotos.com/James-Sant-124664.htm |accessdate=24 September 2015}} then from the age of twenty was taught by the Royal Academy Schools.

He lived to the age of 96 and exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery as well as producing nearly three hundred canvases for exhibition at the Academy. The first of these, a portrait of his father William Sant,{{cite web |title=Sant, James (1820–1916), portrait and genre painter |url=http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/64291 |accessdate=22 December 2015 |archive-date=22 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222224749/http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/64291 |url-status=dead }} was exhibited in 1840;{{cite web |title=Classical Portrait of a Man |url=http://www.leicestergalleries.com/19th-20th-century-paintings/d/classical-portrait-of-a-man/11637 |accessdate=22 December 2015 |archive-date=23 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223092719/http://www.leicestergalleries.com/19th-20th-century-paintings/d/classical-portrait-of-a-man/11637 |url-status=dead }} the last was exhibited in 1915. In 1851 he married Elizabeth (Eliza) Thomson, daughter of Dr R.M.M. Thomson, a surgeon and member of the Agri Horticultural Society of India.{{cite web |title=James Sant; Eliza Sant (née Thomson) |url=http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw146334/James-Sant-Eliza-Sant-ne-Thomson?LinkID=mp03977&role=sit&rNo=5 |accessdate=22 April 2017}} His 1853 picture of the infant Samuel was his first popular success, and engravings of this and of Little Red Riding Hood and The Soul's Awakening sold in great numbers.

In 1861, his portraits of friends and relatives of Frances, Lady Waldegrave were exhibited by Ernest Gambart at his Gallery in Pall Mall. This enhanced his reputation and he was elected ARA, and later RA; in 1871 he was appointed Principal Painter in Ordinary (official portraitist) to Queen Victoria, having become known for his portraits of the royal children and in particular his 1870 portrait of Prince Leopold and Princess Beatrice.{{cite book |last=Gere |first=C. |title=Artistic Circles: Design & Decoration in the Aesthetic Movement |publisher=Harry N. Abrams |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-85177-602-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hF1JAQAAIAAJ |access-date=1 May 2019 |page=42 |quote=James Sant, who in 1871 succeeded Sir George Hayter as Queen Victoria's Principal Painter-in-Ordinary, had a successful career as a portrait painter.}} He was the last artist to hold the title.

Sant is best known for his portraits, particularly of women and of children; he was "the emperor of children," in the words of the Athenaeum. Nevertheless, many of his pictures were landscapes and particularly gardens; he also painted seascapes, landscapes with animals, and other subjects including the Wish Tower,{{cite web |title=Martello towers |url=https://www.lovefromtheartist.com/Home/Product?Item=10025/ |accessdate=22 April 2017 }}{{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} a Martello Tower at Eastbourne. His later pictures are freer in style; some have been favourably compared with the work of the French Impressionists{{cite book |title=The National Gallery: France and England |author=Sir Charles Holmes |publisher=G Bell & Sons Ltd |page=240}} and some have a visionary or mannerist quality; his landscapes could include figures with blank or distorted features or simple silhouettes such as the nun in Convent Walls (1910).{{cite web |title=Convent Walls |date=28 September 2015 |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/sant_artist/21620410529 |accessdate=12 May 2017}} He continued painting into old age; All My Fancy! (1910), an Italian landscape with villa and hills, he painted in bed from memory.{{cite web |title=All My Fancy |date=28 September 2015 |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/sant_artist/21781171536/in/album-72157658103176678/ |accessdate=22 April 2017}}

He became a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in 1914 and resigned from the RA in the same year to "make room for younger men." He died in Lancaster Gate, London, on 12 July 1916. His work can be found at the Tate Gallery and at the National Portrait Gallery.

His sister Sarah Sherwood Clarke was also an accomplished artist: but all that is presently known of her work is a collection of 48 different views of Scotland from 1854;{{cite web |title=Sarah Sherwood Clarke nee Sant |date=12 September 2015 |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/sant_artist/albums/72157656178949004 |accessdate=22 April 2017}} these were exhibited for the first time at the "Watercolours & Works on Paper Fair" in London in February 2010.{{cite web |title=Watercolours + Works on Paper |url=http://www.artslant.com/lon/events/show/88771-watercolours-works-on-paper |accessdate=24 September 2015 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} She married Frederick Clarke, Superintendent and later Secretary of the London and South Western Railway.

His brother George Sant RBA (Royal Society of British Artists)(1821–1877) was a landscape painter and the two brothers occasionally collaborated on paintings. Both James and George Sant were among the notable artist acquaintances of Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll); James Sant, his daughter Sarah Fanny{{cite web |title=James Sant (1820–1916), Painter |url=http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/personextended.php?linkid=mp03977&tab=iconography#h2 |accessdate=22 April 2017}} and son Jemmy were the subjects of photographic studies by Dodgson.{{cite web |title=Lewis Carroll |url=https://www.pinterest.com/pin/355784439288412485/ |accessdate=24 September 2015}}

At auction, Sant's work can achieve hundreds of pounds sterling or hundreds of thousands of pounds depending on size, quality and subject matter.{{cite web |title=Art auction result for James Sant |url=http://www.findartinfo.com/english/list-prices-by-artist/1/11717/james-sant/page/2.html/ |accessdate=22 January 2018}} Allegorical subjects remain popular; Courage, Anxiety and Despair: Watching the Battle (circa 1850) achieved £61,250 in 2012{{cite web |title=Courage, Anxiety and Despair: Watching the Battle |url=http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/james-sant-ra-cvo-1820-1916-courage-5563227-details.aspx |accessdate=22 January 2018}} and Astronomy almost twice this in 2008.{{cite web |title=Art auction result for James Sant |url=http://www.findartinfo.com/english/list-prices-by-artist/1/11717/james-sant/page/2.html/ |accessdate=22 January 2018}} His The Schoolmaster's Daughter (1871) and Miss Martineau's Garden (1873) are illustrated in Victorian Painters by Jeremy Maas;{{cite book |title=Victorian Painters |author=Jeremy Maas |year=1988 |publisher=Barrie & Jenkins |isbn=0-7126-2051-6}} The Seventh Earl of Cardigan Relating the Story of the Cavalry Charge of Balaclava...(1854) is illustrated in the same volume and in Victorian Painters by Christopher Wood.{{cite book |title=Victorian Painters |author=Christopher Wood |year=1999 |publisher=Antiques Collectors' Club |isbn=1-85149-172-4}} Sant's work can be seen at Southside House, Wimbledon, and at

the National Portrait Gallery.{{cite web |title=James Sant (1820–1916), Painter |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person.php?search=sa&LinkID=mp03977&role=art |accessdate=22 January 2018}} Many of his works were reproduced as prints during his lifetime; his Courage has since been reproduced as a greetings-card and his Hilda Pennington-Mellor, aged three (1880) as a post-card.{{cite web |title=Other postcards |url=https://www.pinterest.co.uk/ironageman/ |accessdate=22 January 2018}}

File:James Sant Selbstporträt 1844.jpg|Self Portrait, 1844

File:James Sant Frau und Tochter.jpg|Portrait of his wife Elizabeth and daughter, 1852

File:Sant-Thorn.jpg|A Thorn Amidst the Roses, 1887

File:James Sant Lady in Pearls.jpg|Lady in Pearls, 1880

File:James Sant - The Novice.jpg|The Novice, 1856

File:Sant-Ophelia.jpg|Ophelia

File:James Sant Russell sisters.jpg|Russell Sisters, 1858

File:James Sant (1820-1916) - The Duet - N04856 - National Gallery.jpg|The Duet

File:James Sant - The Fairy Tale - Google Art Project.jpg|The Fairy Tale, 1845

File:James Sant - Courage, Anxiety and Despair - Watching the Battle.jpg|Courage, Anxiety and Despair: Watching the Battle

File:James Sant (1820-1916) - Prince Leopold (1853-1884) - RCIN 404258 - Royal Collection.jpg|Prince Leopold

File:James Sant (1820-1916) - Princess Louise of Wales (1867-1931) - RCIN 404995 - Royal Collection.jpg|Princess Louise of Wales

File:James Sant (1820-1916) - Princess Helena (1846-1923) ^ Princess Louise (1848-1939) - RCIN 402508 - Royal Collection.jpg|Princess Helena and Princess Louise

File:James Sant (1820-1916) - Prince Ernest of Hesse (1868-1937) - RCIN 400773 - Royal Collection.jpg|Prince Ernest of Hesse

File:James Sant (1820-1916) - Henri, duc d'Aumale (1822-1897) - RCIN 405450 - Royal Collection.jpg|Henri, duc d'Aumale

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{{s-bef|before=Sir George Hayter}}

{{s-ttl|title=Principal Painter in Ordinary to the Queen| years=1871–1901}}

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• [http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/speel/paint/sant.htm Biography with photo] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303171029/http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/speel/paint/sant.htm |date=3 March 2016 }}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070818182552/http://victorianartinbritain.co.uk/biog/sant.htm Obituary]
• [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11483/11483.txt Acquaintance with Lewis Carroll]
• [http://www.ssplprints.com/image/93269/carroll-lewis-son-of-james-sant-july-1866 James Sant's son photographed by Lewis Carroll] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001195818/https://www.ssplprints.com/image/93269/carroll-lewis-son-of-james-sant-july-1866 |date=1 October 2020 }}

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• {{Internet Archive author |sname=James Sant}}
• {{Art UK bio}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sant, James}}

Category:1820 births

Category:1916 deaths

Category:19th-century English painters

Category:English male painters

Category:20th-century English painters

Category:English portrait painters

Category:Principal Painters in Ordinary

Category:Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order

Category:Royal Academicians

Category:Painters from the London Borough of Croydon

Category:People from Croydon

Category:20th-century English male artists

Category:19th-century English male artists