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Reginald Grenville Eves was born on 24 May 1876 in London. His father was the Justice of the Peace, William Henry Eves. He was educated at University College School in Hampstead before studying at the Slade School of Art between 1891-1895. He won two scholarships there under the tutorage of Alphonse Legros (Hampstead News, Thursday 19 June 1941). After his education he briefly lived in Yorkshire and in 1903 he married Bertha Sibyl Papillon.
They lived in St John’s Wood, London and had one child together.
Reginald Grenville Eves established his own portrait painting practice in the city, leading to successful works of figures such as Sir Ernest Shackleton, George VI and Thomas Hardy. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1933 and a Royal Academician in 1938 (‘Reginald Grenville Eves, RA’, Royal Academy of Arts).
At the beginning of the Second World War, Reginald Grenville Eves was among the first artists to be sent to France on a salaried contract with the WAAC (War Artists’ Advisory Committee). He painted portraits of Allied Generals from the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) for a short time in Arras before the evacuation, returning to England in April 1940 (‘War Artists Archive, Reginald Eves’, Imperial War Museum). He died a year later in Durham on 13 June 1941. His works remain in the collections of The National Portrait Gallery and the Tate, London.
