Art by Harold Speed

Portrait and landscape painter, and writer on art. Born 11 February 1872 in London, son of an architect. First studied architecture at the R.C.A. 1887 but turned to painting and won a gold medal for life school studies in 1890; continued his training at the R.A. Schools 1891–6 where awarded a gold medal in 1893 and a travelling scholarship which took him to Belgium, France, Italy and Spain 1894–5. Exhibited at the R.A. 1893–1943. Member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters 1895, and an associate of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1906; Master of the Art Workers' Guild 1916. Painted fresco ‘Autumn’ in a lunette of the restaurant of the Royal Academy 1895–6. First one-man exhibition at the Leicester Galleries 1907. Author of The Science and Practice of Drawing 1913, The Science and Practice of Oil Painting 1924, and What is the Good of Art? 1936. Died in London 20 March 1957.