STARK, James

1794 - 1859

James Stark was born at Norwich on 19 November 1794 and baptised at St Michael Coslany, Norwich on 30 November 1794, youngest son of Michael Stark (1748–1831), a Scottish-born dyer, and his wife Jane née Ivory (17 August 1758-1843), who married at Norwich on 6 November 1785. James was educated at Norwich Grammar School, where one of his classmates was John Berney Crome (1794-1842), and James was apprenticed for three years from 1811, to John Berney's father, landscape artist John Crome (1768-1821). James first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1811 and in the same year he exhibited at the The Norwich Society of Artists, of which he was elected a member in 1812 and was on the committee of Norwich Artists' Conversazione. At the end of his apprenticeship in 1814, he moved to London and exhibited at the British Institution 1814–1818, winning a prize of £50 in 1818. In 1817 he became a student at the Royal Academy Schools and studied at the British Institution with George Vincent (1796-1831), who shared his house. Ill health forced Stark to return to Norwich in 1819 when he devoted himself to painting the scenery around the city, executing a series of paintings of Norfolk rivers which were engraved and published in 1834. On 17 July 1821, he married at Thorpe, Norwich, Elizabeth Younge Dinmore (1797-19 September 1834) and in 1830 he again returned to settle in London, taking up residence in Chelsea. His wife Elizabeth died at 14 Beaufort Row, Chelsea on 19 September 1834, aged 37, followed by their infant daughter Louisa Jane the following day, their only son was Arthur James Stark. From about 1830, most of his pictures were shown at the Royal Academy, though he continued to exhibit occasionally in other galleries including the British Institution; the Society of British Artists and two works at the Suffolk Fine Arts Association exhibition at Ipswich in 1850 'Landscape and Cattle' and 'Peter Boats on the Thames'. In 1839 he moved to Windsor but in 1849, returned to London to further his son's artistic education and in 1851 James and his son Arthur were living at Norfolk Street, Saint Clement Danes, Strand, London. James Stark died at Mornington Place, Camden Town, London on 24 March 1859. In 1827 he undertook publication of a work on 'The Scenery of the Rivers of Norfolk', which was published in 1834.

Royal Academy Exhibits
No address
1811 179 A View on King Street River, Norwich
1812 342 Cottages
from 82 Berwick Street, Soho
1814 26 Road Scene
from 48 Wigmore Street, Cavendish Square
1815 269 A Landscape
from Norwich
1821 426 View at Thorp, near Norwich
1825 165 Landscape
from 14 Beaufort Row, Chelsea
1831 405 Market Gardeners at Battersea
1832 96 Landscape
1833 310 Landscape
1834 88 A Draining Mill
1836 381 Watermill, Norfolk
1839 88 Fishing
         506 Ferry on the Thames
from 10 York Place, Windsor
1841 108 Enlarging Windsor Great Park
         134 Beech Trees near the Statue, looking towards Windsor Castle
         395 A Trout Stream
1842 456 The Village Oak
         547 Taking Up Eel Pots
1843 253 In Windsor Great Park
         456 The Gamekeeper's Lodge
         719 The Forest Oak - drawing
1844 588 Heath Scene
         1214 Stick Gatherer's - drawing
1846 215 A Roadside Cottage
         340 A Glen
         665 On the Wharf
1847 274 A Water Mill
         332 The Environs of the New Forest
1848 158 Windsor Great Park
         175 A Forest Pond
         716 Lane Scene - drawing
1849 195 Hethersett Church, Norfolk
         550 A Forest Village
         587 Beeches in Savernake Forest
from 35 Norfolk Street, Strand
1850 10 Marlborough Forest
         447 Windsor
         1259 Bettws-y-Coed Bridge - drawing
1851 171 Windsor-morning
         442 A Forest Farm
         454 Bolton Abbey
1852 112 On the Banks of the Yare
         197 Going to Market
         1127 A Country Churchyard
1853 172 Eton College
         1079 Pen Rocks
1854 228 Near Windsor
         392 Backhurst Park
         846 In Sussex
from 41 Fitzroy Square
1855 28 A Forest Brook
         1312 A Farmyard
from 21 Cardigan Street, Hampstead Road, London
1856 317 Changing Pasture
         631 On the Mole
from Langham Chambers, Langham Place, London
1857 79 Marlborough Forest
         134 In Sussex
         436 On the Norfolk Coast
1858 256 Rokeby Park
         301 Entrance to a Wood
         1096 Ruins of a Church
the late
1859 637 A Water Mill

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Works by This Artist