Hayls was a contemporary and rival of Sir Peter Lely and Samuel Cooper.

An extract from 15 February 1665-6 reads, "Mr Hales began my wife's portrait in the posture we saw one of my Lady Peters, like a St.

He promises it shall be as good as my wife's, and I sit to have it full of shadows, and do almost break my neck looking over my shoulder to make the posture for him to work by.

He lived in Southampton Street, Bloomsbury, London, for some years, but then moved to a house in Long Acre, where he died suddenly in 1679.

[1] John Hoskins painted a limning of Hayls, a drawing of which was made by George Vertue (now in the British Museum) [1] This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Cust, Lionel Henry (1891).