Frank Treharne James was a lawyer and connoisseur who was born in Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan. He was admitted as a solicitor in 1884 and was Clerk to the Merthyr Board of Guardians for 40 years. Becoming a member of the Merthyr Town Council in 1904, he remained a member until his death and was Mayor in 1907-08. Commissioned in the 3rd Volunteer Battalion of the Welsh Regiment in 1890, he transferred to the Territorials in 1907 and retired with the rank of major in 1910.
He took a very deep interest in the National Library of Wales (as a governor and a member of the Council) and in the National Museum of Wales where, besides being a governor and a member of the Council, he was chairman of its Art and Archaeology Committee. He was also chairman of the Merthyr Museum Committee. He became an M.B.E. in 1919. A bronze bust of him, by Sir William Goscombe John, is in the National Museum of Wales.
Over the years Major James gave a number of works by, after or attributed to Wilson to the National Museum of Wales, including:
D3 Study for a Landscape;
E13B Joseph Wood after Wilson, The Lake of Nemi or Speculum Dianae;
E14D William Byrne after Wilson, View in the Villa Madama;
E18F William Woollett & John Browne after Wilson, Celadon and Amelia;
E24A Richard Earlom after Wilson, Apollo and the Nymphs;
E30B William Woollett after Wilson, Snowden Hill;
E44 William Woollett and William Ellis after Wilson, Solitude;
E72/10A Thomas Hastings after Wilson, Neath Castle, Glamorganshire;
E72/15A Thomas Hastings after Wilson, Untitled (Lake and Castle);
E73C Samuel William Reynolds after Wilson, Morning;
E74A & E74B Samuel William Reynolds after Wilson, Evening;
E75C Charles Turner after Wilson, Mecaenas' Villa.
