White-cheeked Starling, bramble and Eurasian Comma and Seven-Spotted Ladybird Beetle on leaf (1768) by Studio POPPY

White-cheeked Starling, bramble and Eurasian Comma and Seven-Spotted Ladybird Beetle on leaf (1768) painting by James Bolton.

James Bolton was born near Warley in the West Riding of Yorkshire in 1735, the son of William Bolton, a weaver. James initially followed in his father's trade, but later became a self-taught art teacher and finally a publican in his home village of Warley.[1] He married Sarah Blackburn in 1768 and the couple had four children. He and his family lived all their lives in the Halifax area.[2]

James and his older brother, Thomas Bolton (1722–1778), were keen naturalists, Thomas having a particular interest in entomology and ornithology. Edward Donovan named the dragonfly Cordulegaster boltonii after a specimen collected by Thomas Bolton. The two brothers contributed to the natural history section in The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Halifax in Yorkshire, published in 1775 by John Watson. James Bolton subsequently developed his interest further by writing or illustrating a number of important natural history books.