Heywood Hardy: Pleasant Company, 1906

Heywood Hardy (1842-1933) was a British artist, in particular a painter of horse riding scenes. He also painted landscapes and portraits. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris where his principal teacher was Isidore Pils. Hardy spent much of his spare time copying paintings in the Louvre.

After his years of bohemianism in Paris, Heywood returned to England and moved to St John's Wood in London where he established himself as an animal painter. He studied the comparative anatomy of animals and birds with Professor Alfred Henry Garrod, Head of the Scientific Department at the London Zoo. Horses and horse riding were the subjects of much of Hardy’s later work. His pictures of horse riding by the seashore and riders in 18th century settings are among his most popular paintings. Hardy painted three winners of the Grand National for their owners.

In 1909 he returned to live at East Preston, in Sussex. His last paintings were altarpieces for the thirteenth century Church of St Mary at Clymping in Sussex and for St Luke’s Church at the Royal Hospital Haslar, Gosport. Heywood Hardy was a founder member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, a founder member of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers, a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, and an Associate of the Royal Watercolour Society.

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HC-1447: card size 7" x 5" (178mm x 127mm)