William Dyce | Realist painter

Prof William Dyce FRSE RSA RA (1806-1864) pioneer of state art education in Great Britain. Dyce studied at the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh and the Royal Academy schools, London.

One of the first British students of early Italian Renaissance painting**, he visited Italy in 1825 and 1827-1828, meeting in Rome a group of young German painters, the Nazarenes.

He exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy, being elected associate of the Royal Academy in 1844 and academician in 1848.

In 1830-1837 in Edinburgh he made portraits for a livelihood. But his Italian studies led him to anticipate the British Pre-Raphaelites in the quest for a primitivist simplicity and repose in his painting that harked back to the art of 14th- and 15th-century Italy.

At the time of his death Dyce was engaged in painting a series of frescoes for the Houses of Parliament, of which remain the “Baptism of Ethelbert” in the House of Lords (1846) and the “King Arthur” series (1848; unfinished) in the queen’s robing room. | © Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Dyce ‹dàis›, William - Pittore (Aberdeen 1806 - Streatham, Surrey, 1864). A Roma studiò i maestri antichi ed ebbe contatti con i nazareni (1827-28).

In Inghilterra divenne direttore della School of design di Londra (1840) e ricevette incarichi importanti, dovuti anche alle sue eccezionali conoscenze tecniche, specialmente dell'affresco (Battesimo del Re Etelberto per la Camera dei lord, 1846; cinque pannelli illustranti la leggenda di re Artù per la Queen's Robing-Room, 1848 e segg.; Vita di Cristo nella chiesa d'Ognissanti a Londra, 1849, ecc.).

Fu anche buon ritrattista. Il suo stile colto, ispirato ai quattrocentisti italiani, ebbe profondo influsso sui preraffaelliti.

Oltre ai suoi dipinti storici, sono notevoli quelli ispirati alla vita contemporanea (Ricordo del 5 ottobre 1858, Londra, Tate Gallery).
Si occupò anche di scienza, vincendo un premio per le ricerche da lui condotte sull'elettromagnetismo. | © Treccani