James Henry Beard moved with his family to Painesville, Ohio, in 1823. He was active as an itinerant portraitist in the Midwest as early as age seventeen. In 1830 he settled in Cincinnati and married there in 1833, although he continued to travel to find commissions, eventually becoming a leading portraitist of the region. Beard was in New York from 1846 to 1847, served in the Civil War as a captain of the Union forces, and in 1870 moved permanently to New York. He was an honorary member of the National Academy of Design, 1846-60, and was elected to full membership in 1872.

Beard painted portraits and genre pieces during his Cincinnati period and satirical animal pictures while in New York. His four sons and brother William were also well known artists.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Washington, D.C., Library of Congress, Daniel C. Beard Papers, include James Henry Beard’s autobiography of his early years § Tuckerman 1867, pp. 436-37 § "American Painters: James H. Beard," Art Journal (New York) n.s. 1 (December 1875): 366-68 § Leon Mead, "The Apprenticeship of an Academician," American Magazine 9 (December 1888): 192-200 § S. Winifred Smith, "James Henry Beard," Museum Echoes (Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society) 27 (April 1954): 27-30.