James Bowstead (1801–1843), Fellow (1824–1838), Bishop of Sodor and Man (1838–1840), Bishop of Lichfield (1840–1843)

Martin Archer Shee's portrait of James Bowstead, Fellow of Corpus Christi College Oxford and later Bishop of Lichfield, belongs to the institutional portrait commissions that sustained his career alongside fashionable society work. Bowstead was appointed Bishop of Lichfield in 1840, one of the more prominent English sees, and this portrait for Corpus Christi marks his earlier academic identity before episcopal elevation. Shee, an Irishman who became President of the Royal Academy in 1830, was Reynolds's and Hoppner's successor as the leading English society portraitist, though less inspired than either predecessor.

Shee's academic portrait formula is competent and conventional: three-quarter length, dark academic dress, neutral ground. The handling is smooth and professional without the inspired passages that distinguish the work of his predecessors. The face is rendered with careful likeness while the overall composition adheres strictly to academic convention.