George Hayter was an English artist who lived for his own pleasure and was never afraid of the gossip of high society

George Hayter (December 17, 1792 – January 18, 1871) was a famous British painter of the 19th century, an outstanding master of portrait and historical genres. He also painted pictures on mythological and religious themes, created many beautiful landscapes, etchings and even sculptures. The master’s work is rightfully considered a typical example of British painting of the early Victorian era, and his biography contains many remarkable facts.

George Hayter is the most famous representative of a family dynasty of British painters. In addition to him, his father Charles (Charles Hayter), younger brother John (John Hayter) and sister Anne (Anne Hayter) were professional artists.

Biography

George Hayter was born on December 17, 1792 in the western part of the capital of the British Empire – London. His father held an honorary position at the royal court – he taught perspective and drawing to the heir to the throne, Princess Charlotte, daughter of the British monarch George IV. In painting, Hayter Sr. specialized in painting portrait miniatures and taught children the basics of fine art from an early age.

At the age of 15, George was enrolled in the Royal Academy of Arts, but a few months later he ran away from home and got a job as a cabin boy on a ship. His father had to make a lot of effort to find his son and bring him back.

A year later, George Hayter did another extraordinary thing – he secretly married Sarah Milton, who lived in their house. The chosen one was 12 years older than him, and the parents of the future artist found out about their relationship only two years later. By that time, the couple had their first child – a daughter, Georgiana, and later two more sons were born – Leopold and Henry.

At the academy, George’s mentor was Heinrich Füssli, under whose guidance Hayter successfully completed his studies. In 1815, the young graduate was awarded the British Institute Prize for his engraving “Prophet Ezra” and was appointed to the post of painter of portrait miniatures for Princess Charlotte.

In 1816, the artist’s wife left him, although Hayter never sought a divorce and officially remained married to her for many more years. George decided to change the environment and went to Italy to continue his studies with the sculptor Antonio Canova. Over the next two years, he worked in the workshop of the famous Italian and became close friends with him. Under Canova’s patronage, in 1817 George Hayter became a full member of the Academy of St. Luke for his painting “Tribute Money”.

Returning to London in 1818, the artist first of all arranged his personal life and acquired a mistress, who was Louise Coty, the daughter of an influential British aristocrat. The couple did not hide their relationship from others at all, which caused a lot of gossip in the circle of high capital society. But Hayter did not pay attention to such trifles, he lived for his own pleasure and did not take into account the opinions of others. Subsequently, Louise gave birth to two more children for the artist – a son and a daughter.

The 1820s and 30s became the most productive in the creative career of George Hayter. He painted many formal portraits of influential London nobles, and also created several large-scale works on historical themes, achieving wide recognition from the public.

In 1826, the master and his mistress again left for Italy, but this time he settled in Florence. Here the artist managed to complete several orders until an extraordinary event occurred in his life. Louise poisoned herself with arsenic and died, which led to numerous accusations against George of driving his mistress to suicide. He even had to leave Florence and move to Rome so as not to aggravate the situation in society with his presence.

In 1828, when those around him gradually began to forget about the death of his mistress, George Hayter left for Paris, where he was very favorably received by the local public. In the capital of France, the artist continued to paint formal portraits and several of his works were presented at annual salons.

Hayter returned to England forever in 1831, and from that moment on never left London. Two years later, he painted a formal portrait of Princess Victoria, the future ruler of the British Empire. This work played a special role in the artist’s career – he acquired a powerful patroness for the rest of his life. When Victoria ascended the throne in 1837, she commissioned a state portrait from Hayter. Later, despite the protests of the London elite, the Queen appointed George as a court artist and awarded him the title of knight.

Thanks to the highest patronage, the master was provided with generous orders until the end of his days, although his style of painting portraits from the mid-1840s was already considered old-fashioned. At the final stage of his career, the artist was more drawn to religious and historical genres, creating a number of large-scale works on this subject.

On January 18, 1871, George Hayter died in London at the age of 78. And three months later, all of the master’s works that were in his workshop at that time were sold at Christie’s auction.