Joanna Mary Boyce

(England, 07/12/1831 - 15/07/1861)

Elgiva (1855)

Renowned for her genre works and historical portraits and sketches, Boyce’s career, while brief, paved the way for women in Victorian art and the Pre-Raphaelite circle but is largely overshadowed by that of her watercolourist brother.

Born in 1831 in London, Boyce began her formal training in landscape and architecture at 11 years old before later enrolling at Cary’s Academy where she and her brother first became acquainted with members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Continuing her education, in 1851 she began attending lectures on human anatomy at James Mathews Leigh’s academy and enrolled in classes to begin the following year, and later attended the Government School of Design.

Unique for the era, Boyce’s burgeoning career was supported by her family who set up a painting room in their home for her to work and accompanied her to exhibitions and lectures, which she would be unable to do without a chaperone, as well as on trips to France, The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

In 1855, she began traveling frequently to Paris to study at Thomas Couture’s atelier. That same year, she debuted publicly with two paintings exhibited at the Royal Academy which earned her praise from Ford Madox Brown and John Ruskin who stated: “the beautiful imagination of faint but pure colour, place this picture, to my mind, among, those of the very highest power and promise”.

After a courtship complicated by overwhelming social expectations and dedication to her work, Boyce married fellow artist Henry Tanworth Wells in 1857 and spent the year travelling through and working in Italy. Despite feeling hindered by tiring domestic duties and giving birth to three children in under four years, she continued to paint with fervor throughout her marriage.

In addition to her paintings, Boyce frequently published criticism and reviews in the Fine Art Section of the Exposition Internationale and for The Saturday Review, wherein she championed women artists and lauded the Pre-Raphaelite art movement for its critic of rigid academic norms.

In 1861, three of her paintings were accepted into the annual Royal Academy exhibition although, a few months later, Boyce died due to complications from childbirth and much of her surviving work was lost in the London Blitz. Nevertheless, Tate Britian opened a retrospective of her work in 1935 and, more recently, the 2019 exhibition, Pre‑Raphaelite Sisters at London’s National Portrait Gallery has helped rekindle interest in her work.

Image: Joanna Mary Boyce, Elgiva (1855). Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown. Private collection.