Sydney Prior Hall

{{Short description|British painter (1842–1922)}}

{{other people|Sydney Hall}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox artist

| name = Sydney Prior Hall

| image = Sydney Prior Hall.jpg

| image_size = 200 px

| alt = Sydney Prior Hall, self-portrait, 1895

| caption = Sydney Prior Hall, self-portrait, 1895

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1842|10|18|df=y}}

| birth_place = Newmarket, Suffolk

| death_date = {{death date and age|1922|12|15|1842|10|18|df=y}}

| death_place = St John's Wood, London

| nationality = British

| known_for = Illustrator, Portrait painter, Children's Literature

| training =

| movement =

| notable_works =

| patrons =

| awards =

| elected =

| website =

| spouse = {{plainlist|

• {{marriage|Emma Holland|1877|}}
• {{marriage|Mary Gow|1907}}

}}

| children = Henry R. H. Hall

}}

Sydney Prior Hall MVO, MA (18 October 1842 – 15 December 1922){{cite ODNB |last1=Pottle |first1=Mark |title=Hall, Sydney Prior |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/52024 |date=2004}} was a British portrait painter and illustrator{{cite magazine|title=Hall, Sydney Prior|magazine=Who's Who|year=1907|volume= 59|page=763|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yEcuAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA763}} 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] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517094238/http://www.johnbennettfinepaintings.com/johnbennett_fine_paintings/dogs_sporting_and_animals/314.asp |date=2008-05-17 }} at www.johnbennettfinepaintings.com (Accessed 9 August 2008), derived from:
Christopher Wood (Ed.), The Dictionary of Victorian Painters {{ISBN|0-902028-72-3}} & {{ISBN|978-0-902028-72-2}} (Antique Collectors' Club Ltd, 1978); and
Sally Mitchell (Ed.), The Dictionary of British Equestrian Artists {{ISBN|0-907462-42-1}} & {{ISBN|978-0-907462-42-2}} (Antique Collectors' Club Ltd, 1985). Sydney Hall was educated at Merchant Taylors' School.Minchin, J. C. G., Our public schools, their influence on English history; Charter house, Eton, Harrow, Merchant Taylors', Rugby, St. Paul's Westminster, Winchester (London, 1901), p. 195. He 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.[https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp01987/sydney-prior-hall 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."

He illustrated a number of books including Tom Brown's School Days (MacMillan, 1885), and Tom Brown at Oxford by Thomas Hughes.

Hall married Emma Holland (1846/7–1894), in 1877; the couple had already produced a son, Henry R. H. Hall (1873–1930), who became assistant keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian antiquities at the British Museum. Following the death of his first wife, Hall married the painter Mary Gow (1851–1929), in 1907. Hall died at his home in London on 15 December 1922.Pottle, ODNB.