William Dyce: Francesca da Rimini (detail)

William Dyce (1806-1864) was a Scottish artist, who played a part in the formation of public art education in the United Kingdom, and the South Kensington Schools system. Dyce began his career at the Royal Academy schools, and then travelled to Rome for the first time in 1825. While he was there, he studied the works of Titian and Poussin. On his return to Scotland, Dyce was given charge of the School of Design in Edinburgh, and was later invited to London, where he was based thereafter, to head the newly established Government School of Design, later to become the Royal College of Art.

Dyce is the figure in Scottish art most associated with the Pre-Raphaelites. He befriended the young Pre-Raphaelites in London and introduced their work to the influential art critic John Ruskin. His later work was Pre-Raphaelite in its spirituality, as can be seen in his The Man of Sorrows and David in the Wilderness, which contain a Pre-Raphaelite attention to detail.

Francesca da Rimini was inspired by the ill-fated lovers described by Dante in his epic poem The Inferno. Francesca, married to an elderly and deformed husband Gianciotto, read to his younger brother Paolo and they fell in love. Gianciotto surprised the lovers and murdered them. 

the above text appears on the back of the card
HC-1492: card size 6" x 6" (150mm x 150mm)