Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 25.djvu/70

Hart by him with his other pictures to the nation. It was so attractive that Hart received seventeen commissions, of which he was only able to execute three, one being a companion picture for Mr. Vernon, 'English Nobility receiving the Communion of the Catholic Church.' 'The Quarrel Scene between Wolsey and Buckingham' was in the Royal Academy exhibition of 1834, where also was shown 'Richard Cœur de Lion and Saladin'(1835). Hart was elected an associate of the Academy in 1835. The following year he painted 'Sir Thomas More receiving the Benediction of his Father.' In 1839 he exhibited a large picture of 'Lady Jane Grey at the Place of her Execution on Tower Hi11,' which secured his election as royal academician in 1840. The painting remained rolled up in his studio until 1879, when he presented it to Plymouth, his native town, where it is placed in the hall of the new municipal buildings. He was occupied with a portrait of the Duke of Susex in the autumn of 1840. This was exhibited in the following May. The duke advised him to travel, and gave him letters of introduction. Hart left England 1 Sept. 1841, and visited Italy, where he mnde many architectural and other drawings, originally intended for publication as a series of engravings. They were ultimately used as studies for his pictures of Italian history and scenery, among which are: 'Interiors of the Cathedrals at Modena and Pisa,' 'An Offering to the Virgin,' 'A Reminiscence of Ravenna,' and 'The Interior of the Baptistry of St.Mark's at Venice as in 1842,' exhibited at Hurlington House in 1880; 'Simchoth Torah Festival' (1845), 'Milton Visiting Galileo in Prison' (1847),'The Introduction of Raphael to Pope Julius.' There may also be mentioned 'The Three Inventors of Printing' (1852), and 'The Conference between Manasseh ben Israel and Oliver Cromwell' (1878).

In 1854 Hart succeeded C. R. Leslie as professor of painting at the Academy. He held the office until 1863. From 1865 to his death he acted as librarian of the institution. In spite of advancing years and failing powers he continued regularly to exhibit, and his reputation greatly suffered. His earlier works show great technical skill and vigour of expression. He was very painstaking in the mechanical and antiquarian accuracy of his subjects. Between 1826 and 1880 he is stated by Mr. Graves (Dictionary of Artists, 1884, p. 109) to have publicly exhibited 180 pictures, chiefly scriptural and historical. He painted several portraits of persons of his own faith; the best perhaps was that of Ephraim Alex (1870), founder and first president of the Jewish board of guardians, Devonshire Square, city of London. He will be best remembered for his connection with the library of the Royal Academy, which he may be said to have created. He devoted himself to the discharge of this duty with much skill and unceasing diligence. 'A Catalogue of Books in the Library' was printed in 1877. Hart was curator of the Painted Hall at Greenwich, and was elected by the committee of the Athenæum Club in 1845. He was very learned in the history of the fine arts; he had a strong vein of humour, an intense love for his profession, and was a high-minded and honourable man. He lived a believing and observant Jew. 'His 'Reminiscences' (edited by A. Brodie,1882. contain some interesting stories of the numerous artistic celebrities he had known. He died unmarried at his residence, 36 Fitzroy Square, London, 11 June 1881, in his seventy-sixth year. His brother, Mark Mordecai Hart, was an engraver.

[Personal knowledge; Reminiscences of S. A. Hart, ed, A. Brodie, London, privately printed 1882, sm. 8vo, with photograph; Jewish Chronicle, 17 June 1881; Athenæum, 18 June 1881; Men of the Time, 10th edit. 1879, pp. 492-3; Bryan's Dictionary (R. E, Graves), 1886, i. 629; G. Redford's Art Sales,1888, ii. 50).]  HARTCLIFFE, JOHN, D.D. (1651–1712), schoolmaster, a native of Harding, near Henley-on-Thames, was educated on the foundation at Eton, and in 1667, while still at school, matriculated at Oxford as servitor at Magdalen College. He is described in the university books as aged 16, and son of John Hartcliffe of Windsor. He did not go into residence, but entered as a commoner a few months later at St. Edmund's Hall, in the following year was elected to King's College, Cambridge, whence he graduated B.A, 1672, M.A.1676, becoming fellow there, and in 1689 proceeding D.D. In 1681 he became headmaster of Merchant Taylors' School through, it is said, the interest of his uncle, Dr. John Owen. In the five years of his mastership he had under his care William Dawes, subsequently archbishop of York; Wilcocks, bishop of Rochester; Philip Stubbs, the divine; and Edmund Calamy, the nonconformist historian. He resigned his post in 1686, and three years later endeavoured to procure, through court interest, the provostship of King's. The college, however, successfully resisted William III's attempt to force upon them a provost whom they themselves had not chosen. As some consolation Hartcliffe was made canon of Windsor in 1691, and retained that post until his death on 16 Aug. 1712. Between 1654 and 1695 Hartcliffe published several sermons, among them being a 'Discourse against Purgatory,' 1685 (attributed