Career
Born in Exeter, Devon, Hayman begun his artistic career as a scene painter in London"s Drury Lane theatre (where he also appeared in minor roles) before establishing a studio in Street Martin"s Lane. Hayman was also a successful portraitist and history painter. Combining some of these, he contributed 31 pictures to a 1744 edition of Shakespeare"s plays by Sir Thomas Hanmer, and later portrayed many leading contemporary actors in Shakespearean roles, including David Garrick as Richard III (1760).
He also illustrated Pamela, a novel by Samuel Richardson, Milton"s Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, Smollet"s translation of Don Quixote, and other well-known works.
In the 1760s Hayman was commissioned by Jonathan Tyers, proprietor of Vauxhall Gardens and Denbies, to paint a series of large-scale history paintings depicting British victories in the Seven Years" War. He was an able teacher.
His pupils included Mason Chamberlin, Nathaniel Dance-Holland, Thomas Seton and Lemuel Francis Abbott and he was also a strong influence on Thomas Gainsborough. With Joshua Reynolds, Hayman was actively involved in the formation of the Society of Artists, a forerunner of the Royal Academy, during the early 1760s.