Studio RT Ltd

Description

We are delighted to offer for sale this original watercolour by the illustrator and artist Evelyn Stuart Hardy, who has signed the painting E. S. Hardy in the lower left hand corner. The painting depicts a biblical scene, with Moses at the head of the Israelites, leaning on his staff and pointing upwards. We think this may be the moment when he tells his followers that he is going to go up Mount Sinai and that he will be back in forty days.

Evelyn Stuart Hardy was born to an artistic family in 1865 in Bristol. Her original name was Beatrice Evelyn Elizabeth Hardy, although it is as Evelyn Stuart Hardy that her work is known. Both of her parents, and her two elder brothers were artists. She died, unmarried, in Cuckfield, Sussex in 1935.

Evelyn's major employer in younger years was legendary printer and publisher Ernest Nister, born and working in Germany (Nuremberg was kind of world capital of toy making), but having headquarters in London and New York too. Nister specialized in high quality color printing and movable books. He improved many existing ideas as movable books (like transformation of one picture to another by pulling a tab) and devising new ones (like kaleidoscopic effect in so called magic windows). To achieve maximum results, he surrounded himself with top artists of the end of 19th century who were not only skilled in classical artistic techniques, but also willing to explore new media.

E. S. Hardy didn't only paint and illustrate (watercolors and gouache were her favorites), she also wrote a few books herself. Already knowing how many pictures with biblical motifs she produced, we should not be surprised at one more specialty: she was very good at painting scenes from India and other Eastern countries.

Apart from her biblical illustrations of which she produced over a thousand, this being one, she also illustrated Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hans Christian Andersen, nursery rhymes, Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice etc.

Her original artwork rarely comes to the market, but there are 39 listings at artprice.com, artnet.com (9), arcadja.com (19) and findartinfo.com (6). There are several pages of information about her on google and many of her paintings and illustrations on google images. One of her pen and ink drawings is in the V & A.

The painting is mounted in cream and is framed in a very nice 1 1/2" bronze and gilt frame. It will be supplied wired and ready to hang.

Image size: 26 13/4" x 19 3/4" - 68cm x 50.15cm

Frame size: 33 1/2" x 26 3/8" - 85cm x 67cm

Medium: Watercolours on Whatman board

Condition: Very good. There are a few faint water drips in the sky probably caused by the artist. There is a slight crease across the very top right hand corner. The mount and frame appear to be virtually new.