In a hayfield, near Wantage, Oxfordshire

Henry John Sylvester Stannard came from a family line of artists, initially based in Bedfordshire, that began with John Stannard (1794-1882), the artist's grandfather. Stannard was born in London and throughout his childhood he regularly attended his father Henry's art classes, subsequently gaining a place at the National Art Training School in South Kensington. During the years that followed he exhibited many of his pictures at the Royal Society of British Artists and the Royal Academy, gaining a reputation for his charming rustic scenes, that earned him royal patronage. In 1905 Stannard was commissioned to paint at Sandringham by Queen Alexandra 1844-1925) and by the end of his career he had executed more than twenty watercolours for the monarch.