JACK W. HARDCASTLE (Canadian 1881-1973)
PRINCESS ALICE
watercolour
 
The self-taught marine painter Jack Hardcastle was born with his
younger identical twin brother on board his father’s brig Martha, which
sailed out of Whitby, England. He had a long and intimate relationship
with the sea, and as a child loved to draw ships and spend time on the
docks. Immigrating to Canada he worked on a farm in Quebec and
homesteaded on the Prairies, and narrowly missed boarding the Titanic
on his return journey from a visit home to England. After serving in
France with the Grenadier Guards of Winnipeg during WWI he
married and eventually settled in Nanaimo, B.C. where the couple had
six children. He joined the Customs Department, and from their house
on Haliburton Street used a telescope to observe marine activities in
Nanaimo Harbour. He painted marine subjects throughout his life,
collected information on ships and accumulated a reference library of
nautical books, news items, marine manuals, as well as a scrapbook of
over 3000 ship pictures. He painted mainly in watercolour and oil, made
illustrations and model ships as well as souvenirs for the CPR including
miniature lifebuoy paintings of their ships. His patrons included sailors
who admired his attention to the detail and rigging on his paintings.
Size in inches: 13.5 h x 19.5 w (with frame 18 1/8" x 24")
J21412