Biography
Printer and etcher, mostly of topography. Born in Bristol, a cousin of the writer, Thomas Hardy. Educated at home and at the age of 10 won a scholarship to the Bristol College of Art and Science. A further scholarship took him to the RCA in 1900, where he studied in the engraving school under Frank Short and Reginald Bush. He was commissioned to print Whistler's etchings of Venice. He exhibited with the Royal Institute of Painter-Etchers and Engravers... from 1905 and was elected a member in 1910. He also exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1909-37 and at the Chenil Gallery; Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; at the Paris Salon and in Venice. Queen Mary purchased his view of Westminster Abbey and his etchings of Bristol were published in 'City Impressions: Bristol Etchers 1910-1935'. His etching press was destroyed at the beginning of WWII and he left London, retiring to the west country and died in Somerton, Somerset in 1956. A centenary exhibition was held at the Dorset County Museum, Dorchester, in 1980 and the Guilford Library displayed his cityscapes in 2001.Estate sale, Phillips, London, 6 July 1981.
Celia Barclay: 'Nathaniel Sparks - Memoirs of Thomas Hardy's Cousin, the Engraver', 1994
