Wotton House, Surrey

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. He 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 their summer and winter exhibitions. A close friend of Rossetti, they shared a house together for a time in Chatham Place, Blackfriars, and his diaries are a valuable source of information on the Pre-Raphaelites. Works by him are in many public collections including the Tate Gallery, British Museum and Victoria & Albert Museum. Sir William Bowman (1816-1892) was a surgeon, histologist and anatomist. He is best known for his research using microscopes to study various human organs, although during his lifetime he pursued a successful career as an ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital and King’s College. Bowman’s country house was Joldwynds, near Dorking, Surrey, a few miles from Wotton House. Joldwynds was designed for him by Philip Webb in 1873. In 1868-9 Webb had designed West House, Glebe Place Chelsea for Boyce. Bowman also had a Scottish house at Camusdarach, between Arisaig and Mallaig, on the Road to the Isles. Webb had earlier designed a house at Arisaig in 1863. Wotton House near Dorking was built in the early 17th century. It was the home of the Evelyn family and was the birthplace of the diarist John Evelyn. It is now a hotel and conference centre. Boyce exhibited several watercolours of Wotton House and the sounding countryside, Landscape at Wotton, Surrey: Autumn 1864-5, being now in the collection of the Tate Gallery, London.