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George Perfect Harding (1781 – 23 December 1853) was an English portrait painter and copyist.


Life

He was a son of Silvester Harding of
Pall Mall, London Pall Mall is a street in the St James's area of the City of Westminster, Central London. It connects St James's Street to Trafalgar Square and is a section of the regional A4 road (England), A4 road. The street's name is derived f ...
. Adopting his father's profession, he practised miniature-painting, and exhibited at the
Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...
at intervals between 1802 and 1840; but, like his father, he mainly devoted himself to making
water-colour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the S ...
copies of historical portraits. Harding visited family seats of the nobility, royal palaces, and college halls. He produced highly finished copy portraits. He was elected a fellow of the
Society of Antiquaries of London The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a Charitable organization, registered charity. It is based ...
in 1839, but withdrew in 1847. Towards the end of his life he had money troubles, and sold his collections of drawings. Harding died at Hercules Buildings,
Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, which today also gives its name to the (much larger) London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth itself was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Charin ...
, where he had resided for more than thirty years, on 23 December 1853. He left a large family by a second wife. His portrait was engraved by J. Brown, from a miniature by himself, in 1826. A collection of his works went to the print room of the
British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
.


Works

In 1822–3 Harding published a series of eighteen portraits of the
Deans of Westminster The Dean of Westminster is the head of the chapter at Westminster Abbey. Due to the abbey's status as a royal peculiar, the Dean (Christianity), dean answers directly to the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British monarch (not to the Bishop of Lo ...
, engraved by James Stow, R. Grave, and others, to illustrate
John Preston Neale John Preston Neale (1780–1847) was an English architectural and landscape draughtsman. Much of his work was drawn, although he produced the occasional watercolour or oil painting. His drawings were used on a regular basis by engravers. A major w ...
and
Edward Wedlake Brayley Edward Wedlake Brayley (177323 September 1854) was an English historian and topographer. Brayley collaborated with his life-long friend, John Britton, on the first 6 volumes of '' The Beauties of England and Wales''. Early life Brayley was ...
's ''History of Westminster Abbey''. This was followed in 1825 by ''Ancient Oil Paintings and Sepulchral Brasses in the Abbey Church of St. Peter, Westminster'', with descriptions by
Thomas Moule Thomas Moule (14 January 1784 – January 1851) was an English antiquarian, writer on heraldry, and one of Victorian England's most influential map-makers. He is best known for his popular and highly decorated county maps of England, steel-engra ...
. Among other historical works to which he supplied the plates was
John Heneage Jesse John Heneage Jesse (1809 – 7 July 1874), English historian, son of Edward Jesse, was educated at Eton and became a clerk in the secretary's department of the Admiralty. His poem on Mary, Queen of Scots was published about 1831, and was f ...
's ''Memoirs of the Court of England during the Reign of the Stuarts'', 1840. He gave much time to the preparation of a manuscript account of the
Princes of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Gwynedd who, from the late 12th century, used it (albeit inconsistent ...
, illustrated with portraits and heraldic devices. In 1840 Harding took a leading part in establishing the Granger Society, the object of which was the publication of previously unengraved historical portraits; through lack of support the society came to an end, after publishing a few prints, early in 1843. Harding carried on the work on his own account, and during the next five years issued a series of fifteen plates, engraved by Joseph Brown and William Greatbach, with biographical notices by Moule. The copperplates of these afterwards passed into the hands of
John Russell Smith John Russell Smith (1810 – 19 October 1894) was an English bookseller and bibliographer. He is best known for his "Library of Old Authors" reprint series. Life He was born at Sevenoaks, Kent in 1810, and was apprenticed to John Bryant of Wardo ...
of Soho Square, who reissued the work in 1869.


References

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External links

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Harding, George Perfect Date of birth missing 1781 births 1853 deaths 19th-century English painters English male painters English portrait painters Art copyists 19th-century English male artists