Introduction

George Price Boyce was the eldest son of George and Anne Boyce. He was born in September 1826 while his parents were still living in London’s Bloomsbury, a few years before they moved to 5 Park Place Villas at Maida Hill, which would remain the family home until Anne Boyce’s death in 1890, at the great age of 89.

The family’s early history is vividly told by Alice Street (the daughter of George’s sister, Joanna, and her husband, Henry Wells) in her Memoir (see p. 976). George went to school at Chipping Ongar, near the home of his paternal grandfather, but in 1842, when he was sixteen, his parents took him to Paris, where, after a fortnight’s sight-seeing, they left him for a year in the care of M. and Mme Gachotte. He was assiduously tutored by them in all subjects, including German and drawing, but seems to have had little or no contact with boys of his own age. He spent his solitary leisure visiting interesting buildings and developing the love of ancient and vernacular architecture that became so central to his work.

Back in London in 1843, he began his training with the architect Thomas Little in Northumberland Street. There he met George Devey, who shared his passion for vernacular buildings and materials and became both a friend and mentor to the younger man. In 1846, George joined the architectural partnership of Wyatt & Brandon as an ‘improver’,but he and Devey remained close and the latter was a guest at George’s ‘exhibiting party’ on 23 October 1849, a social occasion which featured ‘pigeon pie, fowls and ham’ and some excruciating singing.

A glutton for education and culture, George attended lectures at the Royal Academy, the Royal Institute of British Architects and London University, and even joined his sisters at their weekly German lessons. Even before he qualified, however, he had decided to become an artist – a decision confirmed by his visits (from 1848 onwards) to the artists’ colony at Betws-y-Coed.

Artists had been drawn to the beauties of the Conwy Valley from an early date. Most early depictions of North Wales concentrated on the antiquities, but by 1770 interest in natural scenery for its own sake had become fashionable.