James Prinsep Beadle
James Prinsep Beadle was an English painter of historical and military scenes.
Early life
Born in Calcutta on 22 September 1863, his father was Major-General James Pattle Beadle. For three years, he studied with Legros at the Slade School in London and at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris under Alexandre Cabanel; his final studies were back in London with G. F. Watts.Painting career
Beadle first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1884 and also at the Paris Salon. Five years later, he was awarded a bronze medal at the Paris Exposition Universelle. Growing up in a military family, the artist was particularly attracted to military subjects and one of his earliest pieces depicted the inspection of the Duke of Yorks Own Loyal Suffolk Hussars at Bury St. Edmonds in 1893. From then on, he was a frequent exhibitor of 'battle' paintings at the RA, the New Gallery and elsewhere. In a review published in the Illustrated London News on 19 May 1894, Beadle's military pieces were singled-out for praise: "He does not go out of his way to flatter 'Tommy Atkins', but he shows him to the public under many forms and in many becoming uniforms. He has studied him at home and abroad, at peace and at war, on horseback and on foot..."While many of his scenes represented contemporary events such as the Franco-Prussian War, the Boer War and the First World War, Beadle found the subject of the Peninsular War, particularly interesting and visited Spain and Portugal in 1912 to sketch the battlefields.
As late as 1924, the artist was still paintings scenes from the Peninsular War, but the events of 1914-1918 were also occupying his mind, and several notable paintings were produced including Neuve Chapelle, 10 March 1915, Dawn: Waiting to go over, and Breaking the Hindenburg Line. In his final years, he lived in Kensington and died at his home on Eldon Road on 13 August 1947, leaving his widow, A.M.G. Beadle.