A native of Aberdeen who had studied in Italy, Dyce was predominantly a painter of religious and historical subjects. His links with the German Nazarenes and his adoption of a style based on quatrocento painting made him an important precursor of certain aspects of Pre-Raphaelitism. [Wilcox and Newall 97]
William Dyce had some claim to be called the first Pre-Raphaelite. He was a High Churchman and, as well as an artist, an authority on seventeenth-century church music and the decorator of All Saints, Margaret Street. He was also an expert designer of stained glass. [Blythe xv]
Works
Related material
- Holman Hunt on Dyce, Maclise, and the House of Parliament
- Pre-Raphaelitism in the High Church: William Dyce's The Man of Sorrows
- Dyce's grave (in St Leonard's, Streatham (the railings were removed for the war effort, and the cross destroyed by a bomb)
- The Dyce fountain in Streatham
Bibliography
Blythe, Ronald. A Priest to the Temple, or The Country Parson, with Selected Poems: George Herbert. Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2003.
Wilcox, Scott, and Christopher Newall. Victorian Landscape Watercolours. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1992.
Last modified 21 May 2018