commissions was the "Duke of Normandy" costume for the ill-fated prince Alfred of Saxe Coburg-Gotha for the Devonshire House Ball in 1897. Lucas was also a prolific watercolour painter; he was elected as a member of the Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 1877. During most of his artistic career, Lucas lived in a purpose-built studio in South Hampstead, London, designed for him by his friend and fellow artist, architect Sydney Williams-Lee. Lucas joined the Sylvan Debating Club in 1872, and painted a portrait of the society's founder Alfred Harmsworth. He retired from painting towards the end of World War I and moved to Blythburgh, Suffolk, where he re-designed a house next to the church known as "The Priory". Lucas died in 1923 and is interred in the churchyard of Holy Trinity church in Blythburgh. His son, Sydney Seymour Lucas, also became an artist and illustrator. Legacy John Seymour Lucas was a renowned artist in his day, when his painting style and themes resonated with the core themes of Imperial Great Britain: the uniqueness of the British historical experience and the nation's seemingly inexorable rise to global preeminence. His love for colourful detail, veracity and the theatrical was well suited to the tastes of the late Victorian audience. However, the end of Pax Britannica and the rise of Modernism left these twin pillars of the Lucas oeuvre slightly marooned and he is less than a household name in the 21st century. But he left a unique legacy as a chronicler of British history and a costume painter of distinction. References This article is based on articles in the Art Journal of March 1887 and December 1908, Current Art Notes 1923, as well as the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica biographical entry. External links National Portrait Gallery Royal Collection Profile on Royal Academy of Arts Collections Sydney Seymour Lucas (son) at WorldCat 19th-century English painters English male painters 20th-century English painters 1849 births 1923 deaths Painters from London People from Blythburgh Artists' Rifles soldiers 19th-century painters of historical subjects Royal Academicians Members of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours 20th-century English male artists 19th-century English male artists