Lewis Sydenham Hayden

Artist: Philip Thomas Coke Tilyard; Oil on canvas

Lewis Sydenham Hayden was born on November 7, 1816 in Baltimore, Maryland, one of the children of Horace H. Hayden and Maria Antoinette Robinson. They were the parents of six children: 

• Eliza Lucretia Hayden, born 14 Dec 1805; 
• Handel Mozart Hayden, born 4 Dec 1807; 
• Edwin Parsons Hayden, born 7 Aug 1811; 
• William Robinson Hayden, born 18 Apr 1814; 
• Horace William Hayden, born 18 Apr 1814 and 
• Lewis Sydenham Hayden, born 7 Nov 1816. 

Lewis Hayden died at age 17. The painting was a gift of Lewis H. Hayden, of Cleveland, Ohio, a great-nephew of Lewis S. Hayden.

This painting is attributed to Philip Thomas Coke Tilyard who was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of a glazier and sign painter.  He learned journeyman painting from his father and in 1814 began portrait painting. 

In 1816, Tilyard won a $20,000 lottery and turned from painting to operating a dry goods store.  It was a failed venture, so in 1822, he returned to painting and received some prestigious portrait commissions.  

He died from insanity (or as another account states, a “lingering illness”) before he realized his potential, and critics now think he was one of the more talented early 19th century portrait painters. Tilyard’s paintings were exhibited at the Peale Museum in Baltimore in 1949.