Frank Hyde (painter)

Frank Hyde was born in Surrey to a gentleman who retired from the army,[1] Captain John Francis, and Elizabeth Gudge Hyde[2] in 1849. His father inherited Hyde End Manor, the family seat and a 1,500-acre estate in Berkshire,[1][2] where he grew up with five brothers.[2]

Hyde studied[1] and exhibited his works of art in London at the Royal Academy of Arts.[2] Later, Hyde inherited Hyde End Manor and later sold it.[1]

During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, he served the Royal Engineers as a 1st Lieutenant and then began created illustrations for The Graphic, working as a war artist.[1] Battle of Sedan was depicted by Hyde for The Graphic.[2]

Portrait of Rosina Ferrara (around 1880)

In the late 1870s, he purchased a villa[1] or the former Santa Teresa monastery at Anacapri on the island of Capri, where he made portraits of local model Rosina Ferrara and became a friend of John Singer Sargent.[3] In 1914, he wrote the article Island of the Sirens about Capri for the International Studio about the allure of the people, culture, and island for artists over the years.[4] It was one of many travel articles written by Hyde.[2][5]

Steps at Capri

He is likely best known for his paintings of Ferrara and the one entitled Capri.[1] In the late 1880s, he made the painting The Eton Boy.[6]

During World War I, Hyde was a Captain[1] and made paintings of the war, including First Battalion, the Royal West Kent, at Neuve Chapelle, 1914.[2] An exhibit about the war, "Coming Home: Conflict & Care", at Maidstone Museum has shown three of his paintings, including Arrival of a Convoy of Wounded Soldiers at Maidstone East and Trones Wood, about the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment.[1][7][8]

His painting, Bugler Timmins RM, The Boy Hero,[9] about 14-year-old World War I hero Charles Timmins of HMS Chatham,[2] in the collection of Napier Road School is on loan to the Historic Dockyard in Chatham.[9] Tug of War (1891) is in the collection of the Salford Museum and Art Gallery of Manchester.[10] Capri Coastal Scene with Some Figures and Arrival of a Convoy of Wounded Soldiers at Maidstone East (1917) and in the collection of Maidstone Museum.[11]

In November 1876, Hyde was married to Constance Mary Louise Felgate, who died within a year.[1][2] In 1881, he married Florence Ellen Louise Rowley. In a year, they had a daughter named Mina and in 1884 had a son, Francis Angerstein Clarendon Rowley-Hyde.[1][2] The couple divorced in 1887 and Florence died three years later.[1]

Since the 1870s, Hyde travelled extensively.[1] He then lived in Pett Wood Cottage, his final residence in England at Stockbury, Kent. He lived there for the rest of his life.[1] He died while living there on 4 September 1937 and was buried on Sutton Road at the Maidstone Cemetery.[1]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Frank Hyde (painter).

• Artnet: Frank Hyde