Francis Hayman was born at Exeter in Devon in 1708. He was apprenticed to the painter Robert Brown in 1718. From 1732 Hayman was employed as a scene painter at Goodman’s Fields Theatre, where he painted allegorical works such as The King Attended by Peace, with Liberty and Justice Trampling on Tyranny and Oppression on the pit ceiling (destroyed). He moved to Drury Lane Theatre in 1736, shortly before the Licensing Act closed Goodman’s Fields. At Drury Lane, he painted scenery for Thomas Arne’s masque The Fall of Phaeton (1736) and was praised for his naturalistic landscapes. He also trod the boards in minor roles. From the late 1730s, he began accepting commissions for portraits and conversation pieces. His success in the field of portraiture rested on the dearth of good portrait painters in England at the time and his exploitation of a growing middle-class clientele. Hayman painted portraits of doctors, literary men and actors. These range from distinguished single figures such as Dr Charles Chauncey (1747) to informal groups such as Samuel Richardson and his Family (1741), while David Garrick and Mrs Pritchard in ‘The Suspicious Husband’ (1747) is one of the earliest examples of the theatrical conversation piece in England. For all his success, Hayman’s portraits are often stolid and uninspired, relying on repetitious facial formulae and only occasionally exhibiting a refreshing informality. He turned his hand to landscapes, and scenes from history and literature. In the early 1740s he, along with contemporaries such as Hogarth, established themselves as the first generation of native artists talented enough not to rely on foreign ideals, fashions and teachers. In 1743-44 he collaborated with Gravelot, contributing 31 pictures to a 1744 edition of William Shakespeare’s plays produced by Sir Thomas Hanmer, and later portrayed many leading contemporary actors in Shakespearean roles, including David Garrick as Richard III (1760). He also illustrated the novels of Samuel Richardson. He taught at St Martin’s Lane Academy in 1740s and was an able teacher. Hayman’s French-influenced Rococo style was readily absorbed by the young Thomas Gainsborough. His pupils included Mason Chamberlin, Thomas Seton, Lemuel Francis Abbott and Nathaniel Dance-Holland. The latter commented that, towards the end of his career in the 1760s, Hayman had become ‘very deficient in point of colouring and correctness of drawing”, although he still then possessed … genius and a great facility of invention.’ Hayman produced illustrations for Thomas Newton’s 1749 edition of Milton’s Paradise Lost. In a letter to the artist dated 10 October 1745, David Garrick remarks, ‘Have You finish’d My Picture Yet? Dr Newton has been here & prais’d it extravagantly; Your Drawings for Milton will do you great Service, I have promis’d the Doctor to read ye third Book & give him my opinion for the Drawing, wch I’ll send you.’ Newton’s edition was the first to feature a complete set of illustrations composed by a single English artist. Hayman was employed by Jonathan Tyers to decorate the supper boxes at Vauxhall Gardens and such was the popularity of his work there, his paintings were widely engraved. Hayman also produced nearly two hundred designs for engraved book illustrations. In his day, he was deemed the best historical painter in England before Giovanni Batista Cipriani. With Joshua Reynolds, Hayman was actively involved in the formation of the Society of Artists during the early 1760s and was their president in the period 1766-68. He was a Founding Member of the Royal Academy in 1768, becoming its Librarian in 1771. Hayman died in London on 2 February 1776. A good selection of his work may be found in the collection of the Tate. They also have a pair of pictures commissioned by John Conyers, which depict views of Copped Hall in Essex. Painted by George Lambert (1700-65) in 1746, the figures in both paintings were painted by Hayman. There are two versions of Hayman’s portrait by Joshua Reynolds in existence. It being his practice to work up two portraits at the same time, before discarding one in favour of the other. Reynolds and Hayman seem always to have been on good terms with each other. The latter appears frequently in Reynolds’ appointment diaries in the 1750s and 60s. An early biographer of Reynolds noted Hayman’s ‘special claim on Reynolds’ regard’ – the fact that both men came from Devon and both had also been pupils of that notable painter Thomas Hudson.