James, an eminent English painter and writer on art, was the son of a poor watchmaker, and was born at Plymouth on the 22d October 1746. After receiving a scanty education, he was apprenticed at an early age to the trade of his father. He soon betrayed a decided love for painting, however, and some humble successes in portraiture induced him, after he had reached his twenty-first year, to abandon watchmaking, and to set up a small studio in his father's house. The chief event which determined the success of his after career was his introduction to Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1771, who received the young aspirant into his own house as one of his pupils. Northcote now entered upon a course of regular study, with an untiring enthusiasm which secured the approval and lasting kindness of his master. Late and early he was found either in the gallery of Sir Joshua or in the Royal Academy. At the expiry of his term of five years, the desire to look upon the great paintings of Italy occupied his mind. During the next year he plied his pencil in order to obtain money for his travelling expenses; and in 1777 he repaired to Rome, with a scanty purse and with no knowledge of any language except his own. It was his purpose to make portraits the staple of his support, and to devote his leisure moments to the higher and more congenial subjects of historical painting. Accordingly, during his sojourn of three years in Italy, the works of Titian and Michael Angelo were the chief objects of his study; and he flattered himself that he had caught the grand style of these great masters. Yet no sooner had he been removed from the daily inspection of Italian art, than he slid insensibly into an imitation of Sir Joshua Reynolds.

On his return to London in 1780, Northcote became a professional painter of portraits and history. An air of propriety pervaded whatever he executed; his colouring, somewhat dull, and his drawing, stiff and defective, were redeemed by a certain academic grace; and although he lacked the highest gift of an historical artist—the power of conceiving an entire scene in all its details—his knowledge of what a picture ought to be enabled him, after much careful correction and elaboration, to portray an event with feeling and clearness. A love of money combined with a love of art to keep him constantly before his easel. If his merits were not always recognised, it was not because he was too modest to display and avow them; and if his rivals sometimes threw him into the shade, it was because his contemptuous taunts and depreciating criticism failed to prevent them from rising. His services were soon hired by Alderman Boydell, a munificent patron of the fine arts, and the originator of "The Shakspeare Gallery." Northcote was thus enabled to concentrate all his attention upon that branch of the art most congenial to his taste. The first paintings that he executed for his employer were, "The Murder of the Royal Children in the Tower," "The Death of Wat Tyler," and "Arthur and Hubert;" and these at once established his reputation. The Royal Academy elected him a member in 1787, and he was welcomed into his seat by the president, his kind old master, Sir Joshua. Although, in a short time afterwards, the failure of Boydell threw him back upon portraiture, his fortunes did not cease to rise. Numerous sitters flocked to his studio; commissions for poetical and historical pieces occasionally dropped in; and in 1791 his earnings, which had been hoarded up with the utmost care, were fast swelling into a handsome competence. His fame, however, began to decline; his portraits could not stand comparison with the masterpieces of Lawrence, which were now beginning to come into the field; and all his open depreciation of his young rival could not prevent the public from thinking so. He tried moral painting in 1796, in the "Modest Girl" and the "Wanton," but found he could not compete with Hogarth. Falling back upon history, he produced "The Earl of Argyll in Prison," and "The Vulture and Snake." But the golden age of historical painting was passing away, and his own hand, weakened by age, was gradually forgetting its cunning. Last of all, he tried book-making, and in 1813 published a life of Sir Joshua Reynolds, which was chiefly valued on account of the sayings and anecdotes which it preserved. It was while the reputation of Northcote had thus failed to be sustained by himself, that it was revived by his newly-acquired friend, the celebrated William Hazlitt. The two acquaintances had frequent intercourse; the painter vented his pungent remarks and cutting gibes while his hand plied the brush mechanically, and the writer noted down the conversation as it proceeded. The result was, that the sayings of Northcote were published by Hazlitt in periodical sections in the New Monthly Magazine, under the title of Boswell Redivivus. The popularity which that series of papers secured confirmed the bond between the chronicler and his hero. A large work in 2 vols. 8vo, entitled Titian and his Times, was thus produced between the two in 1830. This was the last effort of Northcote. He died on the 13th July 1831. (Cunningham's Lives of Painters, &c.)