his career, Dyce turned to fresco-painting, and was selected to execute a series of murals at the newly completed the Palace of Westminster. In preparation for work at Westminster, he returned to Italy in 1845–47, to observe the fresco techniques employed there. He was particularly impressed by Pinturicchio's frescoes in the Piccolomini Library in Siena, and by the works of Perugino. Dyce was commissioned to decorate the Queen's Robing Room in the Palace. He chose as his subject the Arthurian legends, He had some difficulty adapting the Courtly love of Malory's tales to Victorian mores. The Arthurian legend became popular later in the Victorian period, but when Dyce received the commission to decorate the room in 1847, it was still an obscure subject. The legend soon became a major problem for Dyce, as it turns on the unfaithfulness of a queen, which causes the fall of a kingdom. After initially experimenting with a narrative sequence in which the tale would unfold in the room's panels, Dyce abandoned this in favour of an allegorical approach. In their finished form, Dyce's frescoes depict scenes from the Arthurian legend that are intended to exemplify the virtues inscribed beneath them. The actions of the figures in his frescoes appear to the modern viewer to convey qualities whose status as virtues is uncertain, and the connection between the episodes from the Arthurian legend and the virtues they represent is sometimes difficult to discern. The virtues depicted are Mercy, Hospitality, Generosity, Religion, and Courtesy. Two projected frescoes, Courage and Fidelity, were never executed. Dyce was working on the frescoes in Westminster when he collapsed, and later died at his home in Streatham on 14 February 1864. He was buried at St Leonard's Church, Streatham. A nearby drinking fountain, designed in the neo-Gothic style by Dyce, was subsequently dedicated to him by the parishioners. Family In 1850 Dyce married Jane Bickerton Brand (died 1885). Dyce's nephew (his sister's son) was the engineer William Dyce Cay, and his niece was the social activist Meredith Jemima Brown. Gallery of works References External links The Quest for the Grail: Arthurian Legend in British Art, 1840–1920 Phryne's list of pictures in accessible collections in the UK The Pre-Raph Pack – More about the artists, the techniques they used and a timeline spanning 100 years 1806 births 1864 deaths 19th-century Scottish painters Scottish male painters Artists from Aberdeen Academics of King's College