Charles Robinson Sykes was born at 14 Child Street, Brotton, Cleveland. His father, Samuel William Sykes and his uncle, Charles Xavier Sykes were gifted amateur artists. The Sykes brothers had married sisters by the name of Robinson and in 1878 they moved to 232 Westgate Road in Newcastle, where the two brothers ran a decorating business and made wallpaper and friezes. They prospered, and Samuel was able to send Charles to Rutherford Art College.
In 1898 Charles won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art at South Kensington in London, where for three years he studied under such tutors as Walter Crane, the book illustrator. By now, rather to the disappointment of his teachers and parents, Charles had acquired a taste for London life, and was soon working and living among the capital's artistic community.
The achievements of Edge and his Napier at Brooklands are legendary, and it was Charles Sykes who designed the medallion presented to Edge to commemorate his epic drive in June 1907, when he covered 1581 miles 1210 yards in 24 hours. It shows a drowsy Edge and his slumbering mechanic being beckoned onward by one of Charles' familiar goddesses holding a laurel wreath.
An early Sykes painting of motoring life, preserved in the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, is a charming study of John Montagu and his friends arriving for a day's shooting in one of Beaulieu's forests. The car in the picture is Montagu's first Silver Ghost, a type 70, chassis number 60751. In complete contrast, but equally evocative, are two paintings entitled A Nocturne in Blue and A Ghost Overtaken by the Dawn. The first shows a Silver Ghost limousine arriving at night at a country house. In the second, the limousine and its sleepy passengers head homewards along a deserted road as the first glow of daylight awakens the surrounding countryside.
The 80-page 1910/11 Catalogue is a coveted document among Rolls-Royce enthusiasts, containing a wealth of information on the Silver Ghost's mechanical features and trials achievements, and some fascinating illustrations. The production is given its final seal of quality by six Sykes oil paintings of Rolls-Royce cars. Entitled Arrival at the Opera, Arrival at a Country House, Arrival at the Golf Links, Arrival at the Meet, Arrival at the Covert-side and Arrival at the Salmon Stream.
Soon after completing his work for the catalogue, Charles embarked on the most famous commission of his career: the creation of The Spirit of Ecstasy, the world's most distinctive motor car mascot. The name by which the figurine would become popularly known had emerged in a letter in which the Company explained that it had sought a mascot that would convey

'in the model of a little lady, the spirit of the Rolls-Royce - namely, speed with silence, absence of vibration, the mysterious harnessing of great energy, a beautiful living organism of superb grace like a sailing yacht. Such is the combination of virtues which Mr. Charles Sykes has expressed so admirably in the graceful little lady who is designed as a figurehead of the Rolls-Royce.'

The letter added that when Charles designed the 'graceful little goddess' he had in mind 'the spirit of ecstasy, who has selected road travel as her supreme delight and alighted on the prow of a Rolls-Royce car to revel in the freshness of the air, and the musical sound of her fluttering draperies.'