George Price Boyce - Donkey
George Price Boyce - Donkey
DE
GEORGE PRICE BOYCE, RWS
(1826-1897)
A Donkey
Watercolour
Framed
18.5 by 25 cm., 7 ¼ by 10 in.
(frame size 35.5 by 41 cm., 14 by 16 in.)
Provenance:
From a folio of drawings by George Price Boyce, Henry Tamworth Wells and other members of the Wells family.
This early work by Boyce was probably executed during one of his visits to Wales and shows the influence of David Cox.
Boyce was born in London, the son of a wine merchant and pawnbroker. He initially trained as an architect but after a meeting with David Cox in Wales in August 1849 he decided to give up architecture in favour of watercolour painting. In about 1849 he met Thomas Seddon and Rossetti who in turn introduced him to the other members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the great critic and patron John Ruskin. He and Rossetti became close friends sharing a house together for a time in Chatham Place, Blackfriars. He diaries of this time give a fascinating insight into the early life the group and especially the troubled relationship between Rossetti and Lizzie Siddal and her tragic death.
Boyce’s early work concentrated on landscape watercolours, often around the Thames Valley, Sussex and Surrey. He was extremely close to his sister Joanna. A very talented artist herself she was married to the artist Henry Tanworth Wells. He was devastated when she died during child birth in 1861 and he decided to escape England for a time and travelled to Egypt where he shared a house in Giza with Frank Dillon.
He applied the strict Pre-Raphaelite principles of truth to nature. Boyce exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1853-1861 but mainly showed at the Old Watercolour Society where he exhibited a total of 218 works in the summer and winter exhibitions. Works by him are in many public collections including the Tate Gallery, British Museum and Victoria & Albert Museum.
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A DonkeyWatercolourFramed 18.5 by 25 cm., 7 ¼ by 10 in.(frame size 35.5 by 41 cm., 14 by 16 in.)Provenance:From a folio of drawings by George Price Boyce, Henry Tamworth Wells and other members of the Wells family.This early work by Boyce was probably executed during one of his visits to Wales and shows the influence of David Cox.Boyce was born in London, the son of a wine merchant and pawnbroker. He initially trained as an architect but after a meeting with David Cox in Wales in August 1849 he decided to give up architecture in favour of watercolour painting. In about 1849 he met Thomas Seddon and Rossetti who in turn introduced him to the other members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the great critic and patron John Ruskin. He and Rossetti became close friends sharing a house together for a time in Chatham Place, Blackfriars. He diaries of this time give a fascinating insight into the early life the group and especially the troubled relationship between Rossetti and Lizzie Siddal and her tragic death.Boyce’s early work concentrated on landscape watercolours, often around the Thames Valley, Sussex and Surrey. He was extremely close to his sister Joanna. A very talented artist herself she was married to the artist Henry Tanworth Wells. He was devastated when she died during child birth in 1861 and he decided to escape England for a time and travelled to Egypt where he shared a house in Giza with Frank Dillon. He applied the strict Pre-Raphaelite principles of truth to nature. Boyce exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1853-1861 but mainly showed at the Old Watercolour Society where he exhibited a total of 218 works in the summer and winter exhibitions. Works by him are in many public collections including the Tate Gallery, British Museum and Victoria & Albert Museum.){kind=link}