Walter Hoyle (1922-2000) was a painter, printmaker and designer, born in Rishton, Lancashire. He studied at Beckenham School of Art from 1938 and at the Royal College of Art 1940-42 and 1947-48, being influenced chiefly by his tutor Edward Bawden. He was then attached as artist to the Byzantine Institute in Istanbul 1948-49. Hoyle became a close friend of Bawden and in 1951 they journeyed together to Sicily in order to paint, mainly in the area in and around Enna. Hoyle later moved to Great Bardfield in Essex where he was to live and work for 22 years. Walter Hoyle exhibited extensively, including at the Royal Academy from 1957, and his work is held in a number of public collections, including The Tate Gallery, Victoria & Albert Museum, The British Museum, and by a number of examples in the Government Art Collection.