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JAMES SEYMOUR. 

 (Born 1702. Died 1752.) 



TAMES SEYMOUR was born in London in the 

 ^ year 1702. His father was a London banker, 

 himself an amateur artist and a man who took 

 pleasure in the society of artists. Sir Peter Lely 

 was an intimate friend of the elder Seymour, and 

 several foreign painters then resident in England 

 were among his acquaintance. James Seymour 

 inherited his father's artistic tastes, and as no Eng- 

 lish school of art existed at this period, his educa- 

 tion in art was no more than the information he 

 acquired in a desultory fashion from his father's 

 artist friends. It is unlikely that he ever received 

 any regular training in his youth ; painting was at 

 first only his amusement ; his father when he died 

 left him an ample fortune, which would have re- 

 lieved him of any necessity to earn his own liveli- 

 hood ; but James Seymour was fond of the turf, 

 and having dissipated his patrimony over horse- 

 racing, was obliged to make art his profession. 



By many of the patrons of art Seymour was con- 

 sidered inferior to his contemporary, John Wootton. 



