James Worsdale

James Worsdale (c. 1692 – 10 June 1767) was an Irish and English portrait painter, actor, literary fraud, and libertine whose lively conversation, wit, and boldness allowed him to move among the highest circles of literary life. His skills as a painter are not widely praised by art historians, but his confidence and assertiveness secured him numerous commissions for portraits.

Worsdale was born in poverty. His father was a pigment grinder, and James began work as an apprentice to leading portraitist Godfrey Kneller. However, Kneller fired Worsdale for secretly marrying his niece. Worsdale would claim to be Kneller's son-in-law, then Kneller's actual son, but these were impositions.

In 1734 he must have been moving in literary circles, because he painted the portraits of Thomas Southerne and Beau Nash. In 1735, he moved to Dublin, Ireland and became the confidante and companion of Richard Parsons, 1st Earl of Rosse and Lord Blayney. The three of them formed the Hellfire Club, Dublin. Worsdale also helped form the Hell Fire Club of Limerick. He began "writing" plays and acting in them in Dublin at this time, if not earlier. He acted with the company of Smock Alley from 1737–40, with the only documented performance being as Lady Scardale in his own play, The Assembly. From 1740-44, he acted with the Aungier Street company, and he was made a deputy Master of the Revels in Ireland in 1741. He appeared as the queen in his The Queen of Spain in 1744 and as Manly in his Cure for a Scold (written in 1735 from Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew). He was (from 1733) an acquaintance of Matthew and Laetitia Pilkington, and Laetitia wrote a fiery prologue for Cure for a Scold.

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