George Hardy (1822–1909) was an English

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

painter, a member of the

Cranbrook Colony The Cranbrook Colony was a group of artists who settled in Cranbrook, Kent from 1853 onwards and were inspired by seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish painters. They have been referred to as 'genre' painters as they tended to paint scenes of the ...

and eldest brother of the artist

Frederick Daniel Hardy Frederick Daniel Hardy (13 February 1827 – 1 April 1911) was an English genre painter and member of the Cranbrook Colony of artists. Early life Frederick Daniel Hardy was born at Windsor in Berkshire, the third of eight children of Georg ...

Early life

George Hardy was born at Brighton in Sussex, the eldest of eight children of George Hardy (1795–1877) and his wife Sarah (née Lloyd) (1803–1872). George's father was a horn player in the Private Band of Music of the Royal Households of

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

Queen Adelaide , house = Saxe-Meiningen , father = Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen , mother = Princess Louise Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg , birth_date = , birth_place = Meiningen, Saxe-Meiningen, Holy ...

and

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

. His father was also an amateur artist, taught by James Duffield Harding and Edmund Bristow. George Hardy's ancestors were from

Horsforth Horsforth is a town and civil parish within the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England, lying about five miles north-west of Leeds city centre. Historically a village within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it had a population of 18,895 at the ...

in Yorkshire; Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, First Earl of Cranbrook, was his second cousin. George Hardy was admitted to the Royal Academy Schools in 1841 on the recommendation of Thomas Webster who was a family friend and was related to Hardy's mother.

The Cranbrook Colony

Hardy's paintings of cottage interiors reflect the influence of Thomas Webster and Dutch genre painters of the seventeenth century, as can be seen for example in ''The Leisure Hour'' (1855). During the 1850s George Hardy helped his younger brother Frederick Daniel, in particular to improve his painting of human figures. They collaborated on a few paintings. Hardy's travels in Normandy provided subjects for several paintings exhibited at the Royal Academy. ''La Soeur de Charité'' (1866) is a study of a fisherman's cottage in France. Hardy exhibited 41 paintings at the Royal Academy between 1846 and 1892. File:The Leisure Hour. 1855. George-Hardy.jpg, ''The Leisure Hour'', (1855). George Hardy File:La Soeur de Charité, 1866. George Hardy.jpg, ''La Soeur de Charité'', (1866). George Hardy File:The Dismayed Artist. 1866. Frederick Daniel Hardy.jpg, ''The Dismayed Artist'', (1866). Frederick Daniel Hardy After his marriage in May 1862 to Ellen Hutton (1833-1894) Hardy lived at Cranbrook in Kent and was a member of the Cranbrook Colony of artists. He is depicted behind his brother Frederick Daniel Hardy in ''The Dismayed Artist'' (1866) painted by F.D. Hardy. In the picture F.D. Hardy has just arrived to continue his work, but is dismayed to see that the picturesque walls are being covered with whitewash. The idea for the painting might be related to a comment in ''The Art Journal'' about George Hardy's Royal Academy exhibit, ''Interior of an English Cottage'' (1849): “Every brick in the floor is marked; it is a successful story in all but the white round the fireplace.” George and Ellen Hardy had four children. Following the death of his wife, George Hardy lived with his daughter Louise and her husband Rev. Charles Pratt at

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...

and then at

Warbleton Warbleton is a village and civil parish in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. Within its bounds are three other settlements. It is located south-east of Heathfield on the slopes of the Weald. Etymology The place-name Warbleton, der ...

in Sussex where he died in 1909, aged 86. George Hardy's youngest daughter Marguerite Ellen was an artist who painted mountain scenes in the Khyber Pass following her marriage to Professor Llewellyn Tipping, one of the founders of Islamia College,

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

and its first principal.Hardy (2016). p. 66.

References

External links

George Hardy on Artnet
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hardy, George 1822 births 1909 deaths 19th-century English painters 20th-century English painters Artists from Brighton British genre painters English male painters People from Warbleton 20th-century English male artists 19th-century English male artists