Powers-Court, 1842 – 1891, Londres
James Lewis Strange Digman Wingfield was an Irish traveler, actor, costume designer, writer, painter and much more as the circumstances of his life dictated.
Born on February 25, 1842, James Lewis Wingfield was the third and last son of Richard Wingfield, 6th Viscount Powerscourt and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Frances Charlotte, eldest daughter of Robert Jocelyn, 3rd Earl of Roden.
He studied at Eton College and the University of Bonn. He was destined for the army, but gave up the career at the request of his mother.
He was a stage actor, most notably on August 21, 1865 when he played at the Haymarket theater.
He was also a journalist and incidentally a surgeon during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. He painted the siege of Paris, communicating by balloon with The Times, The Daily Telegraph and other English newspapers. After a short stay in London, he returned to Paris to cover the events of the Commune.
He had his studio in a barn and rented for three years, for 300 F per year, a house on rue de Paris, in the village of Ecouen, on August 5, 1868 from Mr. Bourgeois. It is a large shed belonging to a property. He lived in the house of Pierre Edouard Frère at 9 rue de la Beauvette.
Back in London, he rents a house at 8 Maida Vale with a large studio attached. Lewis Wingfield, focused on painting, became a member of the Royal Hiberian Academy. Between 1868 and 1875, he presented four works to the Royal Academy and one to the Street Gallery Suffolk.
After giving up painting, Lewis Wingfield became a theatrical costume designer.
After tiring of this occupation, he traveled widely. Wingfield was one of the first British to visit the interior of China and then, in 1880, Hong Kong, Fuzhou, Shanghai, Suzhou, Tianjin with trips around. He then continued to Tokyo. James Lewis Wingfield also worked as a war correspondent embedded in the military staff. He joined the British army in Sudan in 1884. He was then hospitalized for a long time in Egypt and never quite recovered his health. He also traveled to Australia.
On November 12, 1891, James Lewis Wingfield died at 14 Montague Place, London and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery.
For further information, please read the book “L’Ecole d’Ecouen, une colonie de peintres au XIXe siècle” (bilingual French-English).
