Hanna Weil was born in Munich in 1921 but like many others moved to the relative safety of England before the War. She went to North London Collegiate School and then to St Martins School of Art (1940-43) where her teachers included Roland Vivian Pitchforth R.A. On graduating she began a career as an art teacher - working first at Hammersmith School of Art and then at St. Martin's, until 1987. During this time she exhibited her own work in London showing at the Royal Academy, Leicester Galleries and others. She pursued an interest in European travel and painted many architectural compositions following an almost textural approach to composition - here seeming to enjoy the layering of rooflines and archways, picking out some repeating features in scraffito work. In this respect, she deserves comparison with Valerie Thornton, another artist for whom the buildings, the vernacular fabric and the subtle colours were the focus.