Biography for william dyce

Travels

Rome, 1825.

Employment

William Dyce's early works were portraiture, for many years he was in demand as Edinburgh's most accomplished painter of professional, middle class family life. Dyce is best known for his later religious work. He was a leader of the High Church movement and deeply religious. His paintings of the 1840s were influenced by the Nazarene School, a pseudo-monastic group of German artists based in Rome who attempted to capture the spirituality and seriousness of the High Renaissance. He later identified himself with the Pre-Raphaelites. From 1844 Dyce was Professor of Fine Arts at King's College, London. He painted a number of frescos in London buildings including the House of Lords. Dyce Airport in Aberdeen is named after him.