Frank Dillon Biography

Frank Dillon (1823-1909) was a landscape painter, born in London on 24 February 1823. He was the youngest son of John Dillon, of the firm of Morrison, Dillon & Co., silk mercers, of Fore Street, London, and the owner of a fine collection of water-colour drawings which was sold by auction in 1869.

After having been educated at Bruce Castle School, Tottenham, he entered the schools of the Royal Academy and subsequently became a pupil of James Holland, the watercolour painter. He began painting in oil-colours there, and in 1850 sent to the Royal Academy a view 'On the Tagus, Lisbon,' and until 1907 was a fairly regular contributor to its exhibitions, as well as to those of the British Institution until its close in 1867. He was one of the original members of the Dudley Gallery, and after it ceased to exist, he became a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 1882. He travelled much, and as early as 1850, he published a folio volume of 'Sketches in the Island of Madeira.' He visited Egypt first in 1854, and many of his works were the outcome of this and subsequent visits to that country. Among these were Rising of the Nile: Philse, The Nile Raft, Luxor, on the Nile, The Sphinx at Midnight, The Great Pyramid, The Pyramids from Gizeh, The Date Harvest, Egypt, and The Granite Quarries of Syene. He took a keen interest in the preservation of the Arab monuments of Cairo and was active in opposition to the destruction of Philae. He also studied the arts of Japan appreciatively, spending a year in that country in 1876-7, and writing an introduction to the catalogue of the 'Exhibition of Japanese and Chinese Works of Art,' held at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1878.

In early life, he was in full sympathy with the liberal movement of 1848, when he formed a lifelong friendship with Mazzini. He was also intimate with many of the leaders of the Hungarian revolution and assisted them when in exile. Dillon died unmarried at 13 Upper Phillimore Gardens, Kensington, on 2 May 1909.

Eleven drawings by him of interiors of houses in Cairo are in the Victoria and Albert Museum.