Sir George Hayter
The Marriage of Queen Victoria, 10 February 1840,
oil on canvas, 77x1073/4in (196x173.5cm).
The Royal Collection
As the name suggests, a Live Event Painter is an artist, who paints ‘live’ at events. As exciting and innovative as it may sound, live event painting has been around for centuries. It was possibly the only way of documenting important events in history before the invention of cameras in the early 19th century. Like many other cultural luxuries and art practices, this was reserved for the cream of society: the royals, the aristocrats – those who had wealth to spend. After religious storytelling, events such as the royal coronation and weddings were popular subjects that were painted and documented. Such commissions were usually very large paintings produced from smaller studies undertaken from life. The final commission would then take months, if not years to finish.
One such example is the painting of the royal wedding of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert (above). It was painted by the British artist Sir George Hayter who had made several tours to the venue to make the preparatory sketches that were used as references for the final painting. He took creative licence to add the dramatic gothic canopy and panelling and sneakily put himself in the corner of the painting; an amusing practice adopted by many esteemed artists.