(1751 - 1784)
James Jefferys was the son of William Jefferys, a coach painter in Maidstone. He began his career in London, as apprentice to the engraver William Woollett. However he later turned to painting and studyied at the Royal Academy schools from 1772. Two years later he won a Royal Academy gold medal and the following year he was sent on a scholarship to study in Rome. He remained there for four years and it while there he was influenced by the work of Henry Fuseli and Gavin Hamilton. He exhibited paintings at the Royal Academy in 1775 and 1783. Jefferys died at the age of just 33, the result of what has been described as either ‘decline’ or a ‘neglected cold’. His surviving works are mainly drawings of neo-classical themes.
