George Price Boyce (1826-1897)

Boyce was born in London on 24th September 1826. His father was a wine merchant who became a prosperous pawnbroker. After travelling in Europe, Boyce became an architectural draftsman, but in 1849, he met the painter David Cox in North Wales who convinced him to take up the career of a watercolourist.

Boyce may have become aware of Pre-Raphaelitism on meeting Thomas Seddon in 1849; soon afterwards he met Rossetti and their lifelong friendship is chronicled in Boyce's diaries of 1851 - 1875.

Ruskin advised him to visit Venice in 1854 and he later made painting trips to Switzerland and Egypt. He was a founder member of the Hogarth Club and was elected as a full member of the Old Water Colour Society in 1877.

He exhibited watercolours until 1891, gaining a reputation for choosing the unexpected viewpoint: in 1867, the Art Journal commended his "pictures which, as usual, please by their peculiarities". Boyce commissioned a large new house and studio from architect Philip Webb; West House, Chelsea was completed in 1871. Boyce married in 1875 and died at West House in 1897.