Thomas Hardy

Sitterback to top

• Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), Novelist and poet. Sitter associated with 56 portraits.

Artistback to top

• William Strang (1859-1921), Painter and etcher. Artist associated with 65 portraits, Sitter in 11 portraits.

This portraitback to top

The Scottish etcher William Strang studied at the Slade under Alphonse Legros in the late 1870s and only took up painting seriously in the 1890s when he came under the influence of Whistler. This small early sketch of Thomas Hardy, one of the last great novelists of the nineteenth century, was bequeathed to the Gallery by Hardy's widow in 1938. William Rothenstein described Hardy as having 'a small dark bilberry eye which he cocked at you unexpectedly . He was so quiet and unassuming, he somehow put me in mind of a dew-pond on the Downs.' This portrait is framed in small-scale reeded 'Whistler' cushion frame of a type still being used by Whistler in the 1890s.

Linked publicationsback to top

• Audio Guide
• Funnell, Peter (introduction); Marsh, Jan, A Guide to Victorian and Edwardian Portraits, 2011, p. 46
• Motion, Andrew (edited), Interrupted Lives: In Literature, 2004, p. 47
• Saumarez Smith, Charles, The National Portrait Gallery: An Illustrated Guide, 2000, p. 159
• Saumarez Smith, Charles, The National Portrait Gallery, 1997, p. 159
• Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 280
• Simon, Jacob, The Art of the Picture Frame: Artists, Patrons and the Framing of Portraits in Britain, 1997 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 8 November 1996 - 9 February 1997), p. 77

Subject/Themeback to top

• On display at the Gallery