Hart

The Hart family was one of the British dynasties devoted to the violin trade during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, active in London and with a particular connection to old Italian instruments.

John Thomas Hart (1805-1874), trained under Samuel Gilkes, opened his own business on Princes Street around 1825 and was recognised as an expert in the old Italian school. His son George Hart (1839-1891) continued the business, which came to be called Hart & Son, and published The Violin: its Famous Makers and their Imitators (1875) and The Violin and its Music (1881).

After George's death, the Wardour Street shop passed to his sons, George Hart (ii) and Herbert Hart. In the early 1890s the firm extended its activity to the sale of new instruments, some made in France and others copies of famous violins made by the Voller brothers. Although it was overshadowed by the Hills, it retained a good reputation until Herbert Hart's retirement in the autumn of 1939.

The family's legacy rests chiefly on its work as dealers and on George Hart's publications, which are still cited in the historiography of the violin.