The Old Barn at Whitchurch

Boyce executed two versions of The Old Barn at Whitchurch, of which this is the larger. The other, virtually identical except for the inclusion of a horse and cart, is in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. When the present version was exhibited at the Old Water-Colour Society in 1864 (the first time Boyce had shown after his election), F.G. Stephens wrote in the Athenaeum: 'Mr Boyce has the power ... of making a common thing show grandly and gravely; few pictures could look more so than the Old Barn at Whitchurch, which has admirable colour in it.' The Ashmolean version appeared at the same venue the following winter, and Stephens wrote again: 'Mr Boyce deserves one of the highest places as a painter of landscapes. He has the art to give not only absolute truth of aspect to studies of commonplace themes, but a grandeur which elevates them to the poetic class of Art. It is because this painter is so faithful that he is so fortunate. No commonplace painter of Old Barn at Whitchurch could have invested the barn and farmyard, its litter and its sleek, sable occupants, with so much of the dignity of a magnificent building, nor could such a one have given to stable-litter and black pigs the charm of admirable colour. This study is a masterpiece.'

The address on the label is interesting. 14 Chatham Place, Blackfriars, had been D.G. Rossetti's address until 1862. Boyce took over his studio when, following the death of Lizzie Siddal in February that year, Rossetti moved to Cheyne Walk, Chelsea.