Hayward 'Bill' Veal was born in Eaglemont, Victoria, and studied in Melbourne with AD Colquhoun and Max Meldrum between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four. From 1938 to 1950 he oversaw the Meldrum School of Painting in Rowe Street, Sydney; over that period his work was hung eight times in the Archibald, his sitters including poets Roderick Quinn and Hugh McRae, artist Erik Langker, and Max Meldrum himself. Having acted as Head of the Melbourne National Gallery School for six months, in 1951 Veal moved to England, to teach and paint portraits and landscapes; there he wrote his books Oil Painting Course (1953), Impressionist Painting in Oils (1954) and One Evening in the Studio, and contributed many articles to the magazine The Artist. Veal is represented in the collections of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Art Gallery of Western Australia and Queensland Art Gallery.
