Heywood Hardy was born in Chichester,England.He was educated in the Beaux Arts School in Paris. He exhibited his paintings at the Royal Academy, British Institution, Society of British Artists, Old Watercolor Society and the Royal Institute of Portrait Painters.And also illustrated for magazines such as 'The Graphic' and 'Illustrated London News'. Hardy became best known for his portraits, sporting pictures and animal paintings. He was a friend of John Singer Sargent and James MacNeill Whistler and shared with that circle ideas that changed the literal naturalism that had previously been the dominant style in Victorian painting.