Artwork of the Month

Sir Frank Dicksee, P.R.A., British, 1853–1928
Romeo and Juliet, ca. 1881
Oil on six joined pieces of wood, 7 5/8 x 5 1/16 in.
Initialed in reverse in lower right corner: F.D.
1999.18

A staunch defender of the academic tradition in the face of rising Modernism, Sir Frank Dicksee was elected President of the Royal Academy in 1924 (before being knighted in 1925 and named to the Royal Victorian Order in 1927). He believed that “art should be guided by references to nature and upheld by an ideal of beauty…to appeal to the heart and soul.” He trained with his father, Thomas Francis Dicksee, before entering the Royal Academy Schools in 1871 and working with the stained glass designer Henry Holiday. His style is often compared to that of the Pre-Raphaelites because of his detailed, vibrantly-colored, popular images of historical, mythological, biblical, and literary subjects that reveled in extravagant historical costumes. In his obituary in The Illustrated London News in 1928, Dicksee was described as “a painter of very popular ‘sentimental’ works.”
In addition to his paintings (which he exhibited nearly annually at the Royal Academy from 1876–1904), Dicksee also worked as an illustrator for many magazines and books. In the 1880s, the British publisher Cassell & Co. hired him to illustrate several books, including The Royal Shakespeare, the writer’s complete works, and The Poet’s Works in Chronological Order, from the Text of Prof. Delius (1883). In Romeo and Juliet—painted on a woodblock in monochrome and in reverse in preparation for printmaking, Dicksee depicts the famous balcony scene from Act II, Scene II, when the two lovers profess their love for one another. Juliet’s lines “Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sorrow,/ That I shall say good night till it be morrow” were included below the steel plate engraving that appeared in The Royal Shakespeare. A drawing of the scene was exhibited in 1881 and declared “a graceful composition of the immortal lovers” by The Magazine of Art. A year later, in 1884, Dicksee illustrated another, independent edition of Romeo and Juliet for Cassell & Co. In one of the twelve photogravures created for that publication, Dicksee once again took up Juliet’s balcony window, this time choosing the passage from Act III, Scene V, when Romeo departs from Juliet the morning after their wedding night, saying, “Farewell, farewell; one kiss, and I’ll descend.” When Dicksee exhibited a painted version of this latter balcony scene at the Royal Academy that year (Romeo and Juliet, 1884, Southampton City Art Gallery, England), it was harshly criticized for lacking passion—a misgiving that does not appear to concern contemporary viewers, as the painting was dubbed the “most romantic” work of art on display in England in 2012.