Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lewis, Charles James
LEWIS, CHARLES JAMES (1830–1892), painter, born in 1830 in London, was of Welsh extraction on the father's side. At the age of seventeen he was an exhibitor at the Royal Academy, sending a portrait of ‘Miss Shelton.’ Subsequently he became a painter of small domestic subjects, and latterly of landscape, and his works were very popular. He was an industrious, rapid, and prolific artist, and a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy, the Society of British Artists, the British Institution, and other London exhibitions. Lewis's best work was, however, done in water-colour, in which he was very successful. In 1882 he was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water-colours. Though he suffered much from illness in his later years, he continued painting up to the last. A portrait of Lewis from a photograph will be found in ‘The Year's Art’ for 1892. He married Miss Shelton in 1854, by whom he left a family, and resided for many years at 122 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, where he died on 28 Jan. 1892. He was buried at Brookwood Cemetery, Woking.
[Daily Graphic, 8 Feb. 1892; private information.]