Dicksee, Frank (1853-1928) - Chivalry 1885

The theme of chivalry or the 'damsel in distress' was a popular one with the Pre-Raphaelites during the Victorian era. Here, Sir Galahad is saving a maiden in his quest for the Holy Grail.

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Sir Francis Bernard Dicksee KCVO PRA (1853-1928) was an English Victorian painter and illustrator best known for his pictures of dramatic literary, historical, and legendary scenes. He was also a noted painter of portraits of fashionable women, which helped him achieve success in his own time.

Dicksee's father, Thomas Dicksee, was a painter who taught Frank and his sister Margaret from a young age. The family lived in Fitzroy Square, Bloomsbury. Dicksee enrolled in the Royal Academy Schools in 1870 and achieved early success. He was elected to the Academy in 1891 and became its president in 1924.

He was knighted in 1925, and named to the Royal Victorian Order by King George V in 1927. In 1921 Dicksee exhibited at the first exhibition of the Society of Graphic Art in London.

Dicksee painted The Funeral of a Viking (1893), which was donated in 1928 by Arthur Burton in memory of his mother to the Corporation of Manchester. Victorian critics gave it both positive and negative reviews, for its perfection as a showpiece and for its dramatic and somewhat staged setting, respectively. The painting was used by Swedish Viking/Black metal band Bathory for the cover of their 1990 album, Hammerheart.