Thomas Hart (1830-1916) - Late 19th Century Watercolour Cornish Coastline

Description

A fine 19th Century coastal scene showing the dramatic cliffs of the Cornish coast at sunset. The sky is a wonderfully vivid orange, casting the cliffs into relief. A man can be seen with lobster pots to the lower left. The artist has signed to the lower right corner and the painting has been presented in a simple gilt slip. On wove.

Condition

The condition is typical for a picture of this age including some discolouration. The margins are slightly visible at the top and bottom edges. The frame has some scuffing and minor tarnishing.

Size

40.5 x 57cm (15.9" x 22.4")
Framed Size: 46.7 x 63cm (18.4" x 24.8")

Artist Biography

A self-taught painter, he was born in Crowan, near Helston, Cornwall, where he lived for the whole of his working life, firstly in Falmouth, and from the early 1860’s at the Lizard. He was a regular exhibitor and frequent prize-winner at the annual exhibitions of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society, specialising in marine and coastal subjects. Hart also exhibited at London's Grosvenor Gallery, and the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. He travelled widely on the continent and spent many summers painting in Norway, where he had a studio. Several of Hart's twelve children also became artists. As a watercolourist, he painted mainly coastal scenes around the Lizard, Cornwall.
From the middle of the 1870’s, he began to use the initials FSA after his name, although it is not certain what this stands for as there is no evidence to show that he was ever elected a Fellow of the Society of Artists. He won two Silver Medals at the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society in 1868 and again in 1871. The following year, he exhibited for the first time at RA and he journeyed across the Continent painting topographical views mainly of churches. Between 1874 and 1896 he regularly visited Odda in Norway, where he painted the surrounding landscape which he then sold to tourists. Examples of his work are in the collection of Penlee House Museum, Cornwall.