An album of drawings and watercolours, in brown morrocco leather binding with gilt dates to the spine '1826 to 1830': 80 pages, containing 206 sketches with subjects including: landscape studies, figure studies, anatomical drawings and studies for the portraits of Elizabeth, Lady Stuart de Rothesay and her daughters; Ezra the Prophet; Mrs Horace Beckford and her family; The Countess of Lichfield with Viscount Anson and Lady Harriet Anson; The Ladies Jane, Caroline and Alice Gordon; and The Wife and Children of Sir John Malcolm.

This fascinating group of sketchbooks have descended in the artist’s family to the present owner and have never been seen in public before. Whilst we have described them as albums, as most of the drawings have been stuck onto the pages, a few drawings are executed directly on to the album pages, making it clear that they were put together by the artist. In some places, Hayter has added single limbs on flaps of paper, or moving pieces, in order to work out compositions or poses, giving a charming insight into his working practice.

The first album, dated from 1799-1812, offers unique insight into Hayter’s boyish curiosities, such as a Roman soldier’s life on the battlefield. It also memorialises his early attempts to capture the world around him through drawings of horses, sheep and dogs. Interestingly, sketches in this early album reflect the later work of both Hayter and his brother John Hayter (1800-1895). The younger by 8 years, it is possible that John grew-up surrounded by his brother’s sketchbooks and as a consequence developed similar curiosities – both engaging in the pursuit of similar artistic interests. An example of this is John Hayter’s Ophelia, illustrated for the book, The heroines of Shakespeare, 1850, which is strikingly similar to Hayter’s Ophelia, appearing in the first of these albums.

The second album includes dated drawings ranging from 1822-1824, a much narrower time-frame in which Hayter had completed his studies at the RA and, following his visit to Italy after being appointed Painter of Miniatures and Portraits to Princess Charlotte, had returned to London to establish himself as a portrait painter. The album demonstrates a leap in his artistic maturity as he becomes more experimental with composition – often using moving pieces to explore compositional changes – and his interests move away from battle-scenes, shifting to high society subjects and portraiture.
The last album dates from 1826-1830 and marks a pivotal point in Hayter’s career, as he travelled to Rome, Florence and Paris. His growing popularity within aristocratic circles is reflected in the third album which contains numerous composition studies of commissioned portraits for noble families.