Thomas Bush Hardy

Thomas Bush Hardy (3 May 1842 – 15 December 1897) was a British marine painter and watercolourist.

Bragozzi off the Ducal Palace, 1882

Clearing a Wreck, near Boulogne

Biography

Hardy was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire, on 3 May 1842.^[1] As a young man he travelled in the Netherlands and Italy.

In 1884 Hardy was elected a Member of the Royal Society of British Artists. He exhibited with the Society^[1] and also at the Royal Academy.^[2] His paintings feature coastal scenes^[1] in England and the Netherlands,^[3] the French Channel ports and the Venetian Lagoon.^[4]

He died on 15 December 1897 in Maida Vale, London,^[1] and was buried in an unmarked grave on the eastern side of Highgate Cemetery.^[5]

Hardy had nine children.^[2] His son, Dudley Hardy, was a painter, illustrator and poster designer. His daughter, Dorothy, received an MBE after working as a nurse in the First World War.^[2]

Works

• Schevening, the Netherlands (1873) is at Lamport Hall in Northamptonshire.^[6]
• Towing Boats out of Calais (1878) is held at Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne.^[6]
• Seascape (circa 1880) is held at Rotherham Museum and Galleries.^[6]
• Landscape (1882) is held at The National Library of Wales.^[6]
• Museums Sheffield holds Seascape (1887).^[6] It also holds two paintings, each called Sea Piece. One is dated 1880^[6] and the other is undated.^[6]
• Portsmouth Harbour (1891) is in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.^[7]
• Off the Dutch Coast (1896) is in the collection of Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council.^[8]
• A French Paddle Tug Bringing a Barque into Boulogne Harbour in Heavy Weather is in the National Maritime Museum.^[6]
• View on the Grand Canal, Venice (1871),^[9]Calais (1886),^[10]Boulogne Harbour,^[11] and Fishing Boats at Sea^[12] are in the Victoria and Albert Museum's collection.