# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hayter, George

​HAYTER, Sir GEORGE (1792–1871), portrait and historical painter, son of Charles Hayter [q. v.], miniature-painter, was born in St. James's Street, London, on 17 Dec. 1792. While very young he was admitted into the schools of the Royal Academy, and gained two medals for drawing from the antique. He was at sea in 1808, and rated as a midshipman in the royal navy, but he could not have remained very long in the service, for between 1809 and 1815 he exhibited at the Royal Academy several miniatures and portraits in chalk and crayons. In 1815 he was appointed ‘painter of miniatures and portraits to the Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg,’ and received from the directors of the British Institution a premium of two hundred guineas for his picture of ‘The Prophet Ezra.’ In 1816 he went to Rome, where he studied for nearly three years, and was made a member of the Academy of St. Luke. On his return to London he commenced practice as a portrait-painter, and soon obtained a good position. In 1821 his works at the Royal Academy included ‘The ​Duke of Wellington standing by his horse Copenhagen,’ and ‘Venus, supported by Iris, complaining to Mars, after having been wounded by Diomedes.’ These were followed in 1823 by ‘The Trial of Queen Caroline in the House of Lords,’ and in 1825 by ‘The Trial of Lord William Russell at the Old Bailey in 1683,’ a large picture painted for the Duke of Bedford, and now at Woburn Abbey. It was engraved in mezzotint by John C. Bromley. He again visited Italy in 1826, when he was elected a member of the academies of Parma, Florence, Bologna, and Venice. On his way home he stayed until 1831 in Paris, where he painted some portraits of French celebrities. In 1833 he was commissioned by King Leopold to paint a portrait of the Princess Victoria, on whose accession to the throne he was appointed ‘portrait and historical painter to the queen.’ In 1838 he sent to the Royal Academy ‘The Queen, seated on the throne in the House of Lords,’ painted for the city of London, and now in the council chamber in the Guildhall, and also a portrait of Viscount Melbourne. These were the last works he exhibited at the Royal Academy, but he afterwards painted a large picture of ‘The Coronation of Queen Victoria,’ which was engraved by Henry T. Ryall, as well as ‘The Marriage of Queen Victoria,’ engraved by Charles E. Wagstaff, and now in the royal collection at Windsor Castle. In 1841, on the death of Sir David Wilkie, he was appointed ‘principal painter in ordinary to the queen,’ and in 1842 he was knighted. He had previously received the Persian order of the Lion and Sun.
He continued to exhibit at the British Institution, sending in 1848 ‘The Moving of the Address to the Crown on the Meeting of the first Reformed Parliament in the old House of Commons on the 5th of February, 1833,’ now in the National Portrait Gallery; in 1854 ‘The Queen taking the Coronation Oath,’ engraved by Thomas L. Atkinson, and ‘The Arrest of Cardinal Wolsey for High Treason;’ in 1856 ‘The Martyrdom of Ridley and Latimer;’ and in 1859 ‘The Christening of the Prince of Wales,’ which was engraved by William Greatbach, and is now in the possession of the queen at Windsor Castle. He painted likewise ‘Latimer preaching at Paul's Cross,’ engraved by W. H. Egleton, and some scriptural subjects, such as ‘Joseph interpreting the Dream of the chief Baker,’ exhibited in 1848; ‘The Angels ministering to Christ,’ painted in 1849, and now in the South Kensington Museum; ‘Our Saviour after the Temptation,’ exhibited in 1850; and ‘The Glorious Company of the Apostles praise Thee,’ exhibited in 1854, and engraved by W. H. Egleton. Among the numerous portraits of distinguished persons which he painted were those of Queen Victoria for Goldsmiths' Hall; the Earl of Surrey, in his robes as first page to George IV at his coronation; Dr. Edward Harcourt, archbishop of York; Lord Lynedoch, and Lord John Russell. Though all are carefully executed, they do not possess the highest artistic merit. Some were engraved in Saunders's ‘Portraits and Memoirs of Eminent Living Political Reformers,’ 1840. Hayter was also the author of an essay on the classification of colours, with a diagram containing 132 tints, which forms an appendix to the ‘Hortus Ericæus Woburnensis,’ privately printed by the Duke of Bedford in 1825.
Hayter died at 238 Marylebone Road, London, on 18 Jan. 1871, and was buried in the St. Marylebone cemetery at Finchley.
[Art Journal, 1871, p. 79; Times, 23 Jan. 1871; Athenæum, 1871, i. 119; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists of the English School, 1878; Bryan's Dict. of Painters and Engravers, ed. Graves, 1886–9, i. 635; Royal Acad. Exhibition Catalogues, 1809–38; Brit. Inst. Exhibition Catalogues (Living Artists), 1815–59.]
R. E. G.