James Hardy Biography

James Hardy Junior (1832-1899) was born into a large, well-known family of artists. The son of the landscapist, James Hardy Senior, his two brothers, David and Heywood, were also painters, while his cousin Daniel Frederick Hardy was a leading member of the Cranbrook Colony of artists.

For much of his life, Hardy lived in Bristol, but exhibited at many of the principal London venues, including the Royal Academy (1862-1886), the British Institution (1862-1866) and at the Suffolk Street Galleries (1853-1871). He developed a reputation as a very talented painter, primarily of rustic landscapes and hunting scenes, such as the present lot. He was also a watercolourist and exhibited many works at the New Watercolour Society, of which he became a member in 1877.