George Perfect Harding (1781 – 23 December 1853) was an English portrait painter and copyist.

Life

Pall Mall, London Pall Mall is a street in the St James's area of the City of Westminster, Central London. It connects St James's Street to Trafalgar Square and is a section of the regional A4 road. The street's name is derived from pall-mall, a ...

. Adopting his father's profession, he practised

miniature-painting Miniature painting may refer to: * Miniature (illuminated manuscript), a small illustration used to decorate an illuminated manuscript * Persian miniature, a small painting on paper in the Persian tradition, for a book or album * Ottoman miniature, ...

, and exhibited at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

at intervals between 1802 and 1840; but, like his father, he mainly devoted himself to making

water-colour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

copies of historical portraits. Harding visited family seats of the nobility, royal palaces, and college halls. He produced highly finished copy portraits. He was elected a fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societ ...

in 1839, but withdrew in 1847. Towards the end of his life he had money troubles, and sold his collections of drawings. Harding died at Hercules Buildings,

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

, where he had resided for more than thirty years, on 23 December 1853. He left a large family by a second wife. His portrait was engraved by J. Brown, from a miniature by himself, in 1826. A collection of his works went to the print room of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

Works

In 1822–3 Harding published a series of eighteen portraits of the

Deans of Westminster The Dean of Westminster is the head of the chapter at Westminster Abbey. Due to the Abbey's status as a Royal Peculiar, the dean answers directly to the British monarch (not to the Bishop of London as ordinary, nor to the Archbishop of Canterb ...

, engraved by

James Stow James Stow (born. , died in or after 1823), was an English engraver. Life Born near Maidstone about 1770, the son of a labourer. At the age of thirteen he is said to have engraved a plate from Bartolomé Esteban Murillo's ''St. John and the L ...

, R. Grave, and others, to illustrate

John Preston Neale John Preston Neale (1780–1847) was an English architectural and landscape draughtsman. Much of his work was drawn, although he produced the occasional watercolour or oil painting. His drawings were used on a regular basis by engravers. A major w ...

and

Edward Wedlake Brayley Edward Wedlake Brayley (177323 September 1854) was an English historian and topographer. Brayley collaborated with his life-long friend, John Britton, on the first 6 volumes of ''The Beauties of England and Wales''. Early life Brayley was ...

's ''History of Westminster Abbey''. This was followed in 1825 by ''Ancient Oil Paintings and Sepulchral Brasses in the Abbey Church of St. Peter, Westminster'', with descriptions by

Thomas Moule Thomas Moule (14 January 1784 – January 1851) was an English antiquarian, writer on heraldry, and one of Victorian England's most influential map-makers. He is best known for his popular and highly decorated county maps of England, steel-eng ...

. Among other historical works to which he supplied the plates was

John Heneage Jesse John Heneage Jesse (1809 – 7 July 1874), English historian, son of Edward Jesse, was educated at Eton and became a clerk in the secretary's department of the Admiralty. His poem on Mary, Queen of Scots was published about 1831, and was fol ...

's ''Memoirs of the Court of England during the Reign of the Stuarts'', 1840. He gave much time to the preparation of a manuscript account of the

Princes of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers o ...

, illustrated with portraits and heraldic devices. Elizabeth, Lady Ogle

In 1840 Harding took a leading part in establishing the Granger Society, the object of which was the publication of previously unengraved historical portraits; through lack of support the society came to an end, after publishing a few prints, early in 1843. Harding carried on the work on his own account, and during the next five years issued a series of fifteen plates, engraved by Joseph Brown and William Greatbach, with biographical notices by Moule. The copperplates of these afterwards passed into the hands of

John Russell Smith John Russell Smith (1810–1894), known as Russell Smith, was an English bookseller and bibliographer. He is best known for his "Library of Old Authors" reprint series. Life He was born at Sevenoaks, Kent, and was apprenticed to John Bryant of W ...

of Soho Square, who reissued the work in 1869.

References

External link

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Harding, George Perfect Date of birth missing 1781 births 1853 deaths 19th-century English painters English male painters English portrait painters Art copyists 19th-century English male artists