their own as Mr Dyce. The cartoon by Dyce of the “Baptism of Ethelbert” was approved and commissioned for the House of Lords, and is the first of the works done there, 1846, in fresco. In 1848 he began his great frescoes in the Robing-room—subjects from the legend of King Arthur, exhibiting chivalric virtue. The whole room was to have been finished in eight years; but ill-health and other vexations trammelled the artist, and the series remains uncompleted. The largest picture figures “Hospitality, the admission of Sir Tristram into the fellowship of the Round Table.” Then follow—“Religion,” the Vision of Sir Galahad and his Companions; “Generosity,” Arthur unhorsed, and spared by the Victor; “Courtesy,” Sir Tristram harping to la Belle Yseult; “Mercy,” Sir Gawaine’s Vow. The frescoes of sacred subjects in All Saints’ church, Margaret Street, London; of “Comus,” in the summer-house of Buckingham Palace; and of “Neptune and Britannia,” at Osborne House, are also by this painter.
Dyce was an elegant scholar in more ways than one. In 1828 he obtained the Blackwell prize at Aberdeen for an essay on animal magnetism. In 1843–1844 he published an edition of the Book of Common Prayer, with a dissertation on Gregorian music, and its adaptation to English words. He founded the Motett Society, for revival of ancient church-music, was a fine organist, and composed a “non nobis” which has appropriately been sung at Royal Academy banquets. His last considerable writing relating to his own art was published in 1853, The National Gallery: its Formation and Management.
See Redgrave’s Dictionary of Artists (1878), and Dictionary of National Biography. (W. M. R.)
DYEING (O. Eng. deágian, deáh; Mid. Eng. deyen), the art of colouring textile and other materials in such a manner that the colours will not be readily removed by those influences to which they are likely to be submitted—e.g. washing, rubbing, light, &c. The materials usually dyed are those made from the textile fibres, silk, wool, cotton, &c., and intended for clothing or decoration; but in addition to these may be mentioned straw, fur, leather, paper, &c.
The art of dyeing dates from prehistoric times, and its practice probably began with the first dawn of civilization. Although we cannot trace the successive stages of its development from the beginning, we may suppose they were somewhat similar to those witnessed among certain uncivilized tribes to-day—e.g. the Maoris of Historical sketch.New Zealand. At first the dyes were probably mere fugitive stains obtained by means of the juices of fruits, and the decoctions of flowers, leaves, barks and roots; but in course of time methods were discovered, with the aid of certain kinds of earth and mud containing alumina or iron, whereby the stains could be rendered permanent, and then it was that the true art of dyeing began. There is no doubt that dyeing was, in the early period of its history, a home industry practised by the women of the household, along with the sister arts of spinning and weaving, for the purpose of embellishing the materials manufactured for clothing.
Historical evidence shows that already at a remote period a high state of civilization existed in Persia, India, and China, and the belief is well founded that the arts of dyeing and printing have been practised in these countries during a long succession of ages. In early times the products and manufactures of India were highly prized throughout Southern Asia, and in due course they were introduced by Arabian merchants to Phoenicia and Egypt, with which countries commercial intercourse, by way of the Persian and Arabian Gulfs, seems to have existed from time immemorial. Eventually the Egyptians themselves began to practise the arts of dyeing and printing, utilizing no doubt both the knowledge and the materials derived from India. Pliny the historian has left us a brief record of the methods employed in Egypt during the first century, as well as of the Tyrian purple dye celebrated already 1000 B.C., while the chemical examination of mummy cloths by Thomson and Schunck testifies to the use by the Egyptian dyers of indigo and madder. The Phoenician and Alexandrian merchants imported drugs and dyestuffs into Greece, but we know little or nothing of the methods of dyeing pursued by the Greeks and Romans, and such knowledge as they possessed seems to have been almost entirely lost during the stormy period of barbarism reigning in Europe during the 5th and succeeding centuries. In Italy, however, some remnants of the art fortunately survived these troublous times, and the importation of Oriental products by the Venetian merchants about the beginning of the 13th century helped to revive the industry. From this time rapid progress was made, and the dyers formed important guilds in Florence, Venice and other cities. It was about this time, too, that a Florentine named Rucellai rediscovered the method of making the purple dye orchil from certain lichens of Asia Minor. In 1429 there was published at Venice, under the title of Mariegola dell’ arte de tentori, the first European book on dyeing, which contained a collection of the various processes in use at the time. From Italy a knowledge of dyeing gradually extended to Germany, France and Flanders, and it was from the latter country that the English king Edward III. procured dyers for England, a Dyers’ Company being incorporated in 1472 in the city of London.
A new impetus was given to the industry of dyeing by the discovery of America in 1492, as well as by the opening up of the way to the East Indies round the Cape of Good Hope in 1498. A number of new dyestuffs were now introduced, and the dyewood trade was transferred from Italy to Spain and Portugal, for the East Indian products now came direct to Europe round the Cape instead of by the old trade routes through Persia and Asia Minor. Eastern art-fabrics were introduced in increasing quantity, and with them came also information as to the methods of their production. In Europe itself the cultivation of dye-plants gradually received more and more attention, and both woad and madder began to be cultivated, about 1507, in France, Germany and Holland. Under the influence of Spain the Dutch largely developed their industries and made considerable progress in dyeing. The Spaniards, on their first arrival in Mexico (1518), noticed the employment of the red dyestuff cochineal by the natives, and at once imported it to Europe, where an increasing demand for the new colouring matter gradually developed in the course of the century. A further impetus was given to the trade by the Dutch chemist Drebbel’s accidental discovery, in 1630, of the method of dyeing a brilliant scarlet on wool by means of cochineal and tin solutions. The secret was soon communicated to other dyers, and the new scarlet was dyed as a speciality at the Gobelin dyeworks in Paris, and some time later (1643) at a dyeworks in Bow, near London.
In 1662 the newly established Royal Society in London took a useful step in advancing the art of dyeing, and in order to inform and assist practical dyers, caused the publication of the first original account, in the English language, of the methods employed in dyeing, entitled “An apparatus to the history of the common practices of Dyeing.” Ten years later the French Minister Colbert sought to improve as well as control the operations of dyeing, by publishing a code of instructions for the use of the woollen dyers and manufacturers in France. From this time, too, a succession of eminent chemists were appointed by the French government to devote some of their attention to the study of the industrial arts, including dyeing, with a view to their progress and improvement. Dufay, Hellot, Macquer, Berthollet, Roard and Chevreul (1700–1825) all rendered excellent service to the art, by investigating the chemical principles of dyeing, by publishing accounts of the various processes in vogue, by examining the nature and properties of the dyestuffs employed, and by explaining the cause of the several phenomena connected with dyeing. With the advent of the 18th century, certain old prejudices against the use of foreign dyewoods gradually disappeared, and very rapid progress was made owing to the birth of the modern chemistry and the discovery of several useful chemical products and processes—e.g. Prussian Blue (1710), Saxony Blue or Indigo Extract (1740), sulphuric acid (1774), murexide (1776), picric acid (1788), carbonate of soda (1793), bleaching powder (1798). Experiments on the practical side of bleaching and dyeing were made during this period, in England by Thomas Henry, Home and Bancroft, and in France by
