The Tyne at Bywell, Northumberland

Boyce initially trained as an architect but after a meeting with David Cox in Wales in 1849 decided to give up architecture in favour of painting. In about 1849 he met Rossetti and the two became close friends sharing a house together for a time in Chatham Place, Blackfriars. Boyce concentrated on landscape watercolours, applying the strict Pre-Raphaelite principles of truth to nature. His diaries are a valuable source of information on the Pre-Raphaelites. 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. Bywell Castle overlooks the River Tyne about four miles east of Corbridge, Northumberland. It was built in 1430 by the Neville family but was never completed. The impressive three storey gatehouse remains together with a part of the curtain wall into which has been incorporated the present house. Boyce exhibited another view of Bywell Castle at the Royal Society of Painters in Water-colours, 1882, no.243.