Artist in oil and watercolour, writer and teacher, born and lived in London. Hayes gained his master’s degree from Oxford University and studied at Ruskin School of Drawing in Oxford. He “greatly valued Peter Greenham’s drawing lessons at the City School, Oxford.” Between 1940–5 Hayes was commissioned in the Royal Engineers. He was on the staff of the Royal College of Art, eventually as reader, 1949–84. Hayes was president of RBA and was elected RA in 1970. He wrote a series of books on painting and painters, including Renoir and Rembrandt, Stanley Spencer and Ruskin Spear as well as A Grammar of Drawing. Showed in RA Summer Exhibitions, at Agnew, New Grafton and Fieldborne Galleries and in the provinces. In later years Hayes’ palette lightened, he was fond of painting in Greece and there was a strong pattern element in his richly coloured landscapes.