Sir Frank Dicksee

Biography

Herbert Dicksee was born in London in 1862 into an intensely artistic family.

Herbert Dicksee was a painter of animals and historical genre scenes, but he was also an etcher and mezzotint engraver. He studied at the Slade School, later taught drawing at the City of London School and he exhibited his work at the Royal Academy from 1885-1904.

His best-known work depicted lions and other wildlife but he also produced work copied after other great contemporary artists, including his cousin and Sir John Millais.

Dicksee is also well known today for his depictions of dogs, all painted from life. Many of the dogs were owned by members of his family and Dicksee himself owned breeds including the deerhound, bloodhound, Dandie Dinmont, pug, bull terrier and French bulldog. Perhaps Dicksee’s best known dog picture was entitled Where’s Master?, which was produced following a commission from King Edward VII to paint his favourite dog, a terrier. The painting is also known as Caesar.

Herbert Dicksee died in 1942.