A portrait drawing of Thomas Hardy (1840-1928); head and shoulders turned in profile to the left; signed and dated by the artist, lower left; signed by the sitter, lower centre.

The author and poet Thomas Hardy's bleakly realist novels include Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891) and Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), and provide a critical social commentary of Victorian society, especially in rural southern England.

Hardy was appointed to the Order of Merit in 1910. The Order of Merit was founded on the Coronation of King Edward VII in 1902 and recognises exceptional contributions to the arts and sciences. The Order continues to be restricted to 24 members, each of whom is personally appointed by the monarch. In 1907, King Edward VII initiated a tradition of commissioning portraits of members of the Order of Merit by the artist William Strang, whose coloured chalk drawings on buff or pale pink paper consciously echo the Holbein drawings in the Royal Collection. Strang painted Thomas Hardy several times, notably a portrait in the National Portait Gallery (NPG 2929).

The Order of Merit commissions fell into abeyance with the outbreak of the First World War, but the tradition was revived by The Queen in 1987. Portraits of newly appointed members of the Order of Merit continue to be commissioned and added to the Royal Collection.