(b East Anglia, 1704; d Norwich, 9 Sept 1767). English painter and writer. He began his career as a painter of decorative panels, and a number of poor quality overmantels from 1728 onwards survive. About 1738 his brother Robert Bardwell took over the family decorative painting business, which was based at Bungay, Suffolk; by then Bardwell was producing conversation pieces and portraits, perhaps influenced by the Norwich-based portrait painter John Theodore Heins. William Henry, 4th Earl of Rochford, with his Hunter and Groom (1741; Brodick Castle, Strathclyde, NT Scotland) is an example of his naive approach: the doll-like figures inhabit a clear, airless landscape, while the background view of Easton Park, Suffolk, painted with the same degree of clarity as the foreground figures, shows the influence of his early decorative work. In the 1740s and 1750s Bardwell visited London and painted several portraits there. In 1752 and 1753 he journeyed through Yorkshire to Scotland, carrying out a large number of commissions. His Elizabeth, Lady Lloyd, and her Son (1751; priv. col., see Waterhouse, p. 36) shows his dependence on the work of Anthony van Dyck in the studied informality of the poses and the elegant drapery. In 1756 he published The Practice of Painting and Perspective Made Easy, dedicated to Lord Rochford; this original work details the techniques that Bardwell himself employed. From 1759 Bardwell was based in Norwich, where he established a thriving practice.
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