A Life Immersed in Light and Line James Duffield Harding, born in Deptford, England, in 1798, occupies a fascinating space in the annals of British art—a figure who gracefully navigated the transition from established landscape traditions to the burgeoning possibilities offered by new printmaking technologies and a growing emphasis on systematic art education. His life unfolded during an era of immense artistic change, and he proved remarkably adaptable, not merely observing the shifts but actively shaping them. From his earliest days, nurtured by a father also an artist—a drawing-master tra…