Ask the Scholar

In 1808, Hayter enrolled in the Schools of the Royal Academy, where he was declared a new prodigy. He continued his studies on the continent, residing at various times in Paris, Florence, and Rome, supporting himself by painting portraits of the visiting aristocracy. Subsequently, he turned to romantic subjects, producing in 1826 a now lost work entitled "Banditti of Kurdistan Carrying off Circassian Women" to which this painting may be related. He returned to London in 1831 and was eventually appointed "Principal Painter-in-Ordinary" to Queen Victoria. This work exemplifies the artist's response to Romanticism. The foreboding landscape with the blasted tree trunk reflects a tradition stemming from Neapolitan Salvator Rosa (1615-73), one of the most widely admired baroque masters in 19th-century Britain.