Frank Bernard Dicksee

Sir Francis Bernard Dicksee (27 November 1853 – 17 October 1928) was an English Victorian painter and illustrator, best known for his pictures of dramatic literary, historical, and legendary scenes. He also was a noted painter of portraits of fashionable women, which helped to bring him success in his own time.From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

The life and work of Frank Bernard Dicksee

Frank Dicksee was the son and pupil of Thomas Francis Dicksee. He specialised in romantic historical scenes and in the later part of his career he concentrated on society portraits. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1876 and found success a year later with ‘Harmony’ which was brought by the Chantrey Bequest.

Paintings such as ‘The Magic Crystal’ contain elements of Watts, Burne-Jones and other Pre-Raphaelites, while ‘Reverie’ (1895) for example, depicted a social drama very much in the manner of Orchardson. Dicksee was most popular at the turn-of-the-century. In 1900 he was awarded a medal at the Paris Universal Exhibition. The year before his painting ‘The Two Crowns’ had been voted the most popular picture at the Royal Academy summer exhibition. In 1924 he was elected to president of the Royal Academy, but this was seen by many as a mere concession to his seniority as opposed to his position in the art world. By the end of his career he was opposed to modernism of any kind and was regarded as old-fashioned by his contemporaries.