Henry John Sylvester Stannard 1870  - 1951

Watercolour 51cm x 35cm, signed lower left

Henry John Sylvester Stannard was the son of John Stannard, a well-known Bedfordshire artist. He was educated at Bedford Modern School and the National Art Training School, South Kensington. He quickly went on to achieve a reputation for painting scenes of Bedfordshire.  Before his marriage, Stannard resided at Harpur Place, Bedford but in 1894 he moved to Flitwick. He became very well known in the area and did a great deal of charity work.

In 1896 he was elected a member of the Royal Society of British Artists. As well as his reputation as an accomplished artist at this time, Stannard also became well known as a lecturer, teacher and judge of art exhibitions. His international career began after he received interest and patronage from the British Royal family. He painted many pictures of their Sandringham estates and he received many personal commissions from them.

Despite his fame, Stannard still supported local exhibitions including the Bedford Society of Artists and his father's exhibitions in Harpur Street.  In 1939 he founded the Midland Sketch Club. It was at the 1950 annual exhibition of this club (in the Bunyan Room of Bedford Public Library) that Stannard exhibited his last works.