19th Century Framed Oil Painting on Panel by James Hardy Jr.(1832-1889) 'Pondside in the Forest'

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James Hardy Jr.'s "Pondside in the Forest" draws the viewer into a woodland at the turn of the season, where … Read more James Hardy Jr.'s "Pondside in the Forest" draws the viewer into a woodland at the turn of the season, where the last russet leaves cling to slender branches and a still pond opens toward a misty line of distant trees. A footpath curves along the bank and leads the eye past pale reeds and a lone sapling standing in the water, giving the scene remarkable depth on an intimate scale. Hardy built the composition with a fine, flickering brush, tracing every twig against a silvery sky, and his warm palette of umber, rose and amber gathers the whole landscape into a single autumn mood.
Born in Brighton in 1832 into one of the most accomplished artistic families of Victorian England, James Hardy Jr. was the son of the landscape and genre painter James Hardy Sr. and the brother of Heywood Hardy, who became a celebrated animal painter. The family settled in Bristol in the 1850s, and from 1862 to 1886 Hardy exhibited at the Royal Academy, the British Institution, Suffolk Street and the New Watercolour Society, earning membership in the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours. He won wide admiration for sporting pictures of gundogs and game set in Highland scenery, and Christie's held a sale devoted to his work in 1878. His landscapes reveal the same keen observation of the countryside that made his sporting scenes so prized by Victorian collectors.
Painted in oil on panel, the work is presented in an ornate gilded frame with scrolling foliate relief and a gilded liner, its aged patina in perfect harmony with the autumn tones of the painting. Hung above a writing table, in a library, or grouped with other 19th century landscapes, it brings the poetry of the forest into the home.
Circa mid-1800s
Measures 16.5H x 21.5W x 2D
Available at Inessa Stewart's Antiques, Dallas Design District, Dallas, Texas. See less