James Sant was Born on the 23rd of April 1820 in Croydon, James Sant was a prolific and successful portrait painter and from 1892 was appointed principal painter-in-ordinary to Queen Victoria. He had many other patrons amongst the noble and landed families in England, hence he must have been a painter entrepreneur. He studied under John Varlye and Sir A.W. Callcott before entering the Royal Academy London Schools in 1840. Between 1840 and 1915 he regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy in London and presented his portraits as well as allegorical and genre scenes.