James Caulfeild was the first surviving son of James, 3rd Viscount Charlemont (1682-1734) and his wife, Elizabeth Barnard, of Castle Barnard, Co. Cork, Ireland. In 1746 he embarked on an extended Grand Tour from which he returned only in 1755. Charlemont was extremely well connected in England, Ireland and among the cognoscenti and artists of Rome, where he was part of a circle that included Reynolds, Adam and Chambers as well as a friend and associate of Joseph Henry and the young Irish gentlemen who were in Rome in the 1740s and early 1750s. He was painted twice by Batoni (unlocated and YCBA B1974.3.26) and although no direct link with Wilson has been traced the circumstantial connection is very strong. He was in Rome from November 1751 and was the principal sponsor of the short-lived English art school there, 'The Academy of English Professors of the Liberal Arts'. Founded in May 1752 and run by John Parker, this was closed in 1755 but Wilson may well have been associated with it. Charlemont finally left Rome in January or February 1754.
See further, Ingamells 1997, pp. 196-99.
