Matthew Hardie, violin maker in Edinburgh, 1822

Matthew Hardie, violin maker in Edinburgh, 1822

Wood

Matthew Hardie was a celebrated violin maker, sometimes known as the ‘Scottish Stradivari’. He was born in Jedburgh in 1754, the son of a clock maker and trained as a joiner before a spell in the army and then a shift to musical instrument making. He soon focussed his energies on violin and fiddle making, with music for this instrument much in vogue on the concert stage and among players of Scottish tunes. He also repaired old instruments, or used the wood from old instruments to fashion new ones. He was based in the Lawnmarket from 1790, shifting his business premises several times within the vicinity and later relocating to Calton Hill, which was a sort of culture quarter by the 1820s, associated with print sellers, artist suppliers and bookshops. His son and grandson followed him in the same trade with premises in nearby Shakespeare Square. Hardie made very good copies of celebrated violins such as the Alday Stradivarius, which had been played in Edinburgh in 1803 by visiting virtuoso Paul Alday, who allowed him to study the construction of the seventeenth-century Italian instrument. He used choice woods imported from Europe and sold the finished violins to elite customers in Edinburgh and in London. Instruments such as these still are used today and command high prices. But he also manufactured a more inferior output for the cheaper end of the market, which doubtless smoothed his day-to-day income flow. Hardie enjoyed the personal patronage of many Scottish aristocrats and moved in fashionable circles in Edinburgh, but he suffered a life-long problem with alcohol abuse which undermined his career and profits.

This portrait of Hardie was taken near the end of his life when he was an impoverished resident in the Edinburgh Charity Workhouse. It shows a bleary-eyed and dishevelled old man in a great coat, leaning against the back of a chair. He died a few years later aged 71 and was buried in Greyfriars kirk yard. The artist is Sir William Allan, Edinburgh born and apprentice trained as coach painter before turning his hand to anatomical drawing and then history painting, where he made his reputation. He worked in London and also visited Russia, but much of his career was conducted in Edinburgh. The portrait, undertaken later in his life, was one of a series of small paintings of local figures involved in the theatre and the arts.

Scottish National Portrait Gallery

Scottish National Portrait Gallery