Blondell was said to have turned to the study of art only at the advance age of thirty, and then to have received training from William Page. However, he had established his studio in the New York University Building in 1839. His address continued at that location to 1844; thereafter, with the exception of 1847 and 1848, when he was in Washington, D. C., he maintained a studio on or near Broadway. He began exhibiting at the Academy in 1840 and his works were frequently seen in annuals through 1864. His work was early included in the exhibitions of the Apollo Association, however, the American Art-Union acquired paintings from him only once, in 1847. He also showed at the Washington [D. C.] Art Association, the Boston Athenaeum, and in the occasional exhibitions organized in smaller communities such as Troy and Utica, New York.
Having initially been highly successful as a portraitist, being especially noted for fine effects of color, Blondell's career began to falter when he expanded into imaginative subjects. He essayed genre, landscape, and especially subjects from the writings of Sir Walter Scott and Shakespeare, but apparently his skill was not equal to his ambition. He lost favor with public and patrons, and whether by cause or effect, took to drink. His latest known appearance in a public exhibition occured in 1867--and that was in the Derby Gallery, New York, a sale room--with the exception of a portrait of a child by him that was lent by a Dr. Banks to the Academy annual of 1872.
Blondell's death, alone and destitute in his studio, received considerable attention in the press. Common opinion decided he died of starvation. However, the New York City coronor attributed it to Bright's disease. In either case, alcoholism was implied to be the real cause.
The tribute to members who had died over the previous year, delivered at the Academy's annual meeting of May 9, 1877, began with the immediate fact of Blondell's death:
During the Year we have lost Two Academicians & Two Associates. Of the latter the death of J. D. Blondel [sic] is announced this morning as having taken place under painful circumstance doubtless very much exagerated [sic] in the published accounts. He formerly exhibited portraits creditably but of late years has ceased to exhibit losing his position from inability to maintain his ground among the bustling crowd of fierce competitors.
