HARDING, James Duffield (1797-1863)

Papers of and relating to James Duffield Harding, 1819-1996, comprising annual diaries which include notes on the weather, art lessons given, photography, family birthdays and marriages, financial details, 1828-1861 (not all years are covered);
journals, some including a few sketches, recording journeys to the North of England, 1827, Llandough, Glamorgan 1828, France and Italy, 1830, the Continent, 1832, 1844, 1856; accounts, 1823-1863, including lists of pupils with accounts of fees paid, 1832-1837; lists of subscribers to Sketches at Home and Abroad, 1836; sales of pictures and income from lessons, 1845-1846; daily expenditure diary, 1856;
miscellaneous papers including manuscript entitled Remarks on Water Colouring, 1819; passport to France, 1845; letter offering Harding a teaching post, 1846; poem by Mrs Valentine Bartholomew, inspired by a picture by Harding, 1848; manuscript of the 'Use of the Brush etc', possibly printed (in part) in Lessons in Taste ; undated notes on "Objects", their form and function, and art; undated extracts from various items including a paper on Coleridge; an Essay on Taste by Oliver Goldsmith; Locke's Essay on the Human Understanding ; items (title page and vignettes) from Harding's book Sketches at Home and Abroad, 1836; lists of the collection, by the Reverend A A Duffield Harding [1953]; James Duffield Harding 1797-1863: A Centenary Memoir, by Charles Skilton, 1963.

Born in Deptford, 1797; taught perspective by his father (a drawing master) and Samuel Prout; exhibited two drawings at the Royal Academy aged thirteen; became a water-colour painter and was awarded a silver medal by the Society of Arts aged eighteen; exhibited with the Society of Painters in Water-colours, 1818, and continued to exhibit there regularly; became a member of the Society, 1821; adopted lithography as a way of providing examples for the use of students, publishing a number of well received lithographic works, notably Sketches at Home and Abroad , 1836, The Park and the Forest , 1841, and Picturesque Selections , 1861; died in Barnes, 1863.
Publications: Views of Pompeii drawn on stone by J D Harding; after drawings by W Light (London, 1828); Pugin's Gothic Ornaments, selected from various buildings in England and France, drawn on stone by J D Harding (London, [1831]); The Costumes of the French Pyrenees, drawn on stone by J D Harding, from original sketches, by J Johnson (London, 1832); Elementary Art, or the Use of the Lead Pencil (London, 1834); Sketches at Home and Abroad (London, 1836); J D H's Drawing Book (London, 1838); H's Sketches at home and abroad (London, [1839]); The Park and the Forest (London, 1841); Principles and Practices of Art (London, 1845); Lessons on Art (London, 1849); Lessons on Trees (London, 1850); Drawing Models and their Uses (London, 1854); The Early Drawing Book (London, [1856]); The Guide and Companion to the 'Lessons on Art' (London, [1858]); Picturesque Selections: drawn on stone (London, [1861]).

The records are arranged in five sections; diaries, journals, accounts, and two groups of miscellaneous items.

Initial applications should be made to the Deputy Librarian, Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R ORN. At least one week's notice is generally required for access to archival material.

The papers were given to the Courtauld Institute in 1954 by the Reverend A A Duffield Harding.

A detailed catalogue is available in the Courtauld Institute Library.

Sources: Who's Who 1897-1996 (A & C Black, 1996); Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 1995); Courtauld Institute of Art catalogue; British Library On-Line Public Access Catalogue 97; National Register of Archives. Compiled by Julie Tancell as part of the AIM25 Project.

Letters to the 3rd Earl of Malmesbury, held at Hampshire Record Office (ref: 7M54, 26M56, 9M73, 28M91); letters to W H Winsor, held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, National Art Library (ref: L.4694-1979).

Material may be photocopied subject to the approval of the Librarian or Archivist, and provided it does not breach the provisions of the Copyright Act, 1988.

Twenty-nine of J D Harding's notebooks are held by the Courtauld Galleries, and may be viewed on application to the curator of prints and drawings.

The Art Journal: 1850, p. 181, 1856, p. 270, 1864, pp. 39, 89 ; From Gilpin to Ruskin: Drawing Masters and their Manuals, 1800-1860 (Eds) Peter Bicknell & Jane Munro (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 1988); The Dictionary of British Watercolour Artists up to 1920 H L Mallalieu (Antique Collectors Club, 1976); 'James Duffield Harding (1797-1863) A Centenary Memoir' Charles Skilton The Old Water-Colour Society's Club vol 38 ed Adrian Bury (1963); 'Charles Joseph Hullmandel: lithographic printer extraordinary' Michael Twyman Lasting Impressions ed P Gilmour (London, 1988); Victorian Painters Christopher Wood (Antique Collectors Club, 1995).