The son of an artist, Hayter was encouraged to paint from a young age and was initially influenced by his father. After an early period at sea he settled in London and began a major series of landscape etchings. He was also an active draughtsman and produced many sketches of Ireland which were later adapted for his paintings.

In the 1820s Hayter’s portraiture gained in prestige and his sheer painterly virtuosity made him a leading exponent of Romantic vigour on both paper and canvas. He was not accepted as a full member of the Royal Academy and his irregular behaviour grated on more serious-minded colleagues. He was an astute collector of old masters which he sold on, often acting as an intermediary for his aristocratic friends.

Painter Portarlington: Local Expertise in Residential and Commercial Painting

Geelong Painters skills as a miniature painter came to the attention of Princess Charlotte, the daughter of the prince regent and next in line for the throne, and he became her painter of miniatures and portraits. He interceded for his father, who had published An Introduction to Perspective in 1813, with the hope that the princess would appoint him her professor of perspective. He did not receive this honour but he was able to obtain sittings with Antonio Canova.

Hayter’s portrait of the Duchess of Kent (now in the Belgian royal collection) and her marriage to Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld consolidated his position as one of the queen’s favourite painters Portarlington. However, further efforts to win commissions to depict grand ceremonials such as the coronation of George IV in 1823 (NPG) or the crowning of Charles X of France in 1825 (which he tried to persuade Robert Peel to commission) came to nothing.