The Visual Arts: Painting

Sir Francis Bernard Dicksee

English artist Sir Francis (Frank) Bernard Dicksee was born in 1853, the son of painter and etcher Thomas Dicksee. He was taught by Lord Leighton and Sir John Everett Millais at the Royal Academy Schools, and received many accolades for his work. Dicksee's success as an exhibitor at the Royal Academy eventually led to his appointment as president of the Academy in 1924. Dicksee was an outspoken critic of modernism, and although he was considered a proficient president of the Academy, critics considered his artwork outdated.

Most known as a genre and portrait painter, Frank Dicksee painted romantic, literary, biblical, and medieval subjects such as La Belle Dame Sans Merci (1902), which was based on the early 19th-century poem of the same name by John Keats. His lush style of painting was described as Pre-Raphaelite, referring to a new movement in 19th-century art, which referenced the middle ages, classical and biblical mythology, and nature in a manner similar to Italian artists painting before Renaissance painter Raphael.

The image below depicts Romeo and Juliet in a loving embrace:

click on image for larger view

Frank Bernard Dicksee (1853-1928) Romeo and Juliet (circa 1890) Oil on canvas Located in the Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton, England Other works by Dicksee include A Love Story, Paolo and Francesca, A Reverie, The Two Crowns, and This for Remembrance. Dicksee has also painted numerous portraits, including Duchess of Buckingham and Chandos and Lady Hillingdon.