Thomas Bush Hardy

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 on the eastern side of Highgate Cemetery.[5] His grave has no headstone or marker.

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]

• 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.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Thomas Bush Hardy.

• 10 artworks by or after Thomas Bush Hardy at the Art UK site

• Kirby-Welch, David H; Morton Lee, Commander John. Thomas Bush Hardy RBA (1842–1897): A master painter of marine and coastal watercolours, Antique Collectors' Club, 2009, 245 pp.