Sir George Hayter

Sir George Hayter
Self Portrait painted in 1843 (Private collection)
Born	George Hayter 17 December 1792 (1792-12-17) St. James's, London, England
Died	18 January 1871 (aged 78) (1871-01-19) Marylebone, London, England
Nationality	English
Education	Royal Academy Schools
Known for	Painter
Notable work	The Trial of Queen Caroline in the House of Lords 1820 [1] The First Meeting of the Reformed House of Parliament 1833 [2] State Portrait of HM Queen Victoria 1838 [3] The Coronation of HM Queen Victoria 1838 [4] The Marriage of Queen Victoria 1840 [5] The Christening of the Prince of Wales 1842 [6]
Awards	Knight Bachelor, Knight of the Lion and the Sun of Persia, Member of the Academies of St. Luke (Rome), Bologna, Parma, Florence and Venice
Patron(s)	HM Queen Victoria, King Leopold I of the Belgians, 6th Duke of Bedford, 6th Duke of Devonshire

Sir George Hayter (17 December 1792 – 18 January 1871) was a notable English painter, specialising in portraits and large works involving in some cases several hundred individual portraits. Queen Victoria appreciated his merits and appointed Hayter her Principal Painter in Ordinary and also awarded him a Knighthood 1841.

Hayter was the son of Charles Hayter (1761–1835), a miniature painter and popular drawing-master and teacher of perspective who was appointed Professor of Perspective and Drawing to Princess Charlotte and published a well-known introduction to perspective and other works.

Initially tutored by his father, he went to the Royal Academy Schools early in 1808, but in the same year, after a disagreement about his art studies, ran away to sea as a Midshipman in the Royal Navy. His father secured his release, and they came to an agreement that Hayter should assist him while pursuing his own studies.

In 1809 he secretly married Sarah Milton, a lodger at his father's house (he was 15 or 16, she 28), the arrangement remaining secret until around 1811. Together they had three children Georgiana, Leopold and Henry.

At the Royal Academy Schools he studied under Fuseli, and in 1815 was appointed Painter of Miniatures and Portraits by Princess Charlotte. Hayter was awarded the British Institution’s premium for history painting for the Prophet Ezra (1815; Downton Castle), purchased by Richard Payne Knight.

Around 1816 his wife left him, for reasons which are not apparent. He subsequently began a relationship with Louisa Cauty, daughter of Sir William Cauty, with whom he lived openly for the next decade and who bore him two children, Angelo and Louisa (despite not having sought a divorce from his first wife).