Flower study

Petunias, wild roses, thistles, and rosehips are displayed here as though growing among moss and fallen logs. The artist’s close focus and careful delineation demonstrate the influence of William Henry Hunt, a contemporary whose still-life technique layered color over a white gouache ground to achieve luminosity—paralleling an oil technique associated with early Pre-Raphaelite artists. Hardwick used that manner to fine effect in this work. As a student, he won a watercolor prize at Somerset House’s School of Art, then worked as an engraver for the Illustrated London News. From the 1860s, he exhibited watercolors of fruit and flower subjects at the Royal Academy and Royal Society of Painters in Water-Colours, gaining associate membership in the latter in 1882.