Cranbrook Colony painting goes on tour with major exhibition

[Frederick Hardy's The Young Photographers]

A Victorian oil painting from a Kent museum’s collection has been included in a major exhibition at Wolverhampton Art Gallery.

Frederick Hardy’s The Young Photographers from Tunbridge Wells Museum and Art Gallery is part of the show exploring the work of five artists known as the Cranbrook Colony.

Living and working in the town during the 1850s they used the community as inspiration for painting scenes from everyday life. The artists often used actual interiors from buildings as backdrops for their scenes including what is now Cranbrook Museum.

Cranbrook offered a picturesque rural location for the artists, but was also within easy reach of London where their customers were.

Their paintings were very popular with collectors and reproductions were mass produced as prints and sold to people who could not afford the originals.

Hardy’s 1862 painting features what was still quite a new technology. While the photographer deals with his customers, his children are playing at their father’s trade.

http://www.kentnews.co.uk/p_12/Article/a_9784/Cranbrook_Colony_painting_goes_on_tour_with_major_exhibition