Born in New York to Irish-American parents, James Shannon became an expatriate figure and portrait painter who spent his professional life in England, although he did return to America for several extended painting trips.

In England, along with John Singer Sargent, he became the leading portraitist of the Vicitorian and Edwardian eras, the "Belle Epoch." Two years before his death, Shannon was awarded a Knighthood for his services to the world of Art.

Because he showed precocious talent, his parents had sent him at age 16 to the National Art Training School at South Kensington, later the Royal College of Art. In 1881, three years later, he won the gold medal in the annual competition of all the art schools in Britain. He also...