Accession Number

999.025b

Description

A watercolor painting of a seascape, the sky and sand predominating the scene in beige tones, the blue sky with pinkish clouds, the tide out and the ocean choppy, three fishermen standing on the beach in the left foreground working beside a beached rowboat with a blue and a broad red striped painted bottom, the boat loaded with fishing nets, a wooden trap on the sand, not far away a woman in a long blue skirt sitting on a barrel observing three men, in the distant left horizon a two-masted sailing ship beached with a large group of people standing on the shore close-by, at right on a distant cliff a castle surrounded by dense white clouds, on the beach below a horse-drawn wagon covered in green fabric with five people nearby, the artist's name (T.B. Hardy), date (1890), and title (A Wreck Ashore, Bamborough) painted in brown at bottom right corner.

Narrative

The castle featured in the painting is Bamburgh Castle, located in Northumberland, England. Built in 1066 AD on top of a basalt outcropping 150' above the North Sea. The Castle is open for public viewing. A website for the historic site is here: https://www.bamburghcastle.com/ (last accessed April 17, 2020). 

The artist, Thomas Bush Hardy, was born in Sheffield, England on May 3rd, 1842, and died in London on December 15th, 1897. Primarily a marine artist, most of his paintings depict fishing vessels along the Thames. He usually painted in watercolour but did produce some oil paintings. He used the technique of cutting the paper at the crests of ocean waves to impart a 3-dimensional quality to the watercolour paintings. Hardy was elected a Member of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1884.

The 1909 Craigdarroch estate auction catalogue listed lot #402 as a painting by "L. B. Hardy" painting, titled "Lost". This was a miss-reading of the signature on the part of the auctioneer. What she/he thought was the letter "L" was actually a "T". Lot #402 has since been acquired by The Castle Society and is numbered 2016.015.001b. It can be viewed here: https://collection.thecastle.ca/Detail/objects/8645

This painting, "Wreck at Bamburgh" was collected to display in the Dunsmuir-era interiors at Craigdarroch. 

History of Use

Unknown. The Castle Society purchased this painting at Christie's South Kensington auction room in London in 1999. 

Date

1890

Dimensions

64.4 x 104.5 cm

Artwork Title

A Wreck Ashore, Bamburgh

Medium

Watercolour

Support

Paper

Technique

Painted

Country of Origin

United Kingdom