Frank Dicksee

Biography

Sir Francis Bernard Dicksee KCVO PRA (November 27, 1853 – October 17, 1928) was an English 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.

Frank Dicksee, Romeo and Juliet (1884)
Frank Dicksee, Romeo and Juliet (1884)

Dicksee’s father, Thomas Dicksee, was a painter who taught Frank as well as his sister Margaret from a young age. The family lived in Fitzroy Square, Bloomsbury. Dicksee enrolled in the Royal Academy Schools in 1870 and achieved early success. He was elected to the Academy in 1891 and became its president in 1924.

Frank Dicksee, La Belle Dame Sans Merci (1901)
Frank Dicksee, La Belle Dame Sans Merci (1901)

He was knighted in 1925, and named to the Royal Victorian Order by King George V in 1927. In 1921 Dicksee exhibited at the first exhibition of the Society of Graphic Art in London.

Frank Dicksee, The Funeral of a Viking (1893)
Frank Dicksee, The Funeral of a Viking (1893)

Dicksee painted The Funeral of a Viking (1893; Manchester Art Gallery), which was donated in 1928 by Arthur Burton in memory of his mother to the Corporation of Manchester.

A book on Frank Dicksee’s life and work with a full catalogue of his known paintings and drawings by Simon Toll was published by Antique Collector’s Club in 2016.

Nationality:

English

Dates:

December 3, 1830 – January 25, 1896

Occupation:

Painter

Schools attended:

Royal Academy

Taught at:

Student of:

Thomas Dicksee

Group/Movement: