Harold Speed was born in London in 1872. He began studying architecture at the R.C.A. in 1887, following in his father's footsteps who was an architect himself. Soon afterwards however he turned to painting, and in 1890 was awarded a gold medal for life school studies. Speed continued studying at the R.C.A. until 1896, by which time he had also been awarded a gold medal and a travelling scholarship, with which he visited Belgium, France, Italy and Spain in 1894-5. He work was exhibited between 1893 and 1943 at the R.A.; and in 1895 he became a Member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, and in 1906 an associate of the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris. He also became Master of the Art Workers' Guild in 1916. Between the years of 1895-6 he was commissioned to paint 'Autumn', a fresco in a lunette of the Royal Acadamy's restaurant. His first solo exhibition was held in 1907 at the Leicester Galleries. Speed also wrote several books, The Science and Practice of Drawing, 1913, The Science and Practice of Oil Painting, 1924, and What is the Good of Art? in 1936. He died in London in 1957, and a memorial exhibition was held for him at the R.W.S. in 1959.
