I believe this painting of Thomas Hardy, poet and author, was commissioned by my mother’s step-father who thought it would sell during another Thomas Hardy themed event or festival held at the Royal Hotel in Weymouth. The hotel where my grandfather worked part time in his retirement as their accountant. Thomas Hardy used to live in nearby Dorchester and his novels such as Far from the Madding Crowd and Tess of the d’Urbervilles often featured Weymouth and the surrounding “Wessex” countryside, mostly in southern part of Dorset County.

Interestingly, in the painting my mother has included the county of Dorset’s coat of arms. The moto reads ‘Who’s Afear’d’.

I think the paint scrub technique and color palette used here, really gives the painting that old feeling, appropriate as Hardy lived from 1840 to 1928. Although, the effect is not as pronounced as the miniature painting my mother did of the same subject but at an younger age, better matching in character to Victorian time period.