Sydney Prior Hall

Sir Sydney Prior Hall MVO, MA (1842–1922) was a British portrait painter and illustrator and one of the leading "reportage" artists of the later Victorian period.

The son of animal portraitist Harry Hall, [ [http://www.johnbennettfinepaintings.com/johnbennett_fine_paintings/dogs_sporting_and_animals/314.asp Biography of Harry Hall] at www.johnbennettfinepaintings.com (Accessed 9 August 2008), derived from:
Christopher Wood (Ed.), "The Dictionary of Victorian Painters" ISBN 0-90202-872-3 & ISBN 978-0902028722 (Antique Collectors' Club Ltd, 1978); and
Sally Mitchell (Ed.), "The Dictionary of British Equestrian Artists" ISBN 0-90746-242-1 & ISBN 978-0907462422 (Antique Collectors' Club Ltd, 1985).] Sydney Hall decided on a career as an artist while at Oxford University and joined the staff of "The Graphic", an illustrated newspaper, shortly after its foundation in late 1869. He immediately established his name with a series of vivid drawings made at the front during the Franco-Prussian War. [ [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp01987&role=art Sydney Prior Hall (1842-1922), Portrait painter and illustrator ] at www.npg.org.uk]

As stated in the contemporary publication "The Art Journal", his drawings of the Parnell Commission were among his finest achievements in the medium of graphic journalism: "he was in court the whole time, busy with a swift revealing pencil which missed no turn of affairs". [ [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp01987&role=art Sydney Prior Hall (1842-1922), Portrait painter and illustrator ] at www.npg.org.uk]

He illustrated a number of books including "Tom Brown at Oxford" by Thomas Hughes.

Hall married Hannah Holland, and was the father of Egyptologist Henry R. H. Hall. [Morris L. Bierbrier, ed., "Who was Who in Egyptology", ISBN 0-85698-125-7, 1995, London, p. 186-7.]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/eGallery/maker.asp?maker=HALLSP&row=3 Four paintings by Sir Sydney Hall] in the Royal Collection of Queen Elizabeth II
* [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp01987&role=art Some sketches by Sir Sydney Hall] (part of a collection of 146 held by the National Portrait Gallery (London) which were donated in 1929 by the artist's son, Harry Reginald Holland Hall)
* [http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/canadian-west/052920/05292014_e.html Drawings of Canada in 1881 by Sydney Hall] (Hall was a member of the press party which accompanied the Governor General of Canada, Sir John Douglas Campbell, on a much-publicised tour to promote the agricultural potential of western Canada).
* [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?LinkID=mp04636&rNo=0&role=sit Portrait of the three daughters of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra by Sydney Prior Hall] (oil on canvas, 1883, National Portrait Gallery, London)