From that time till his death, at Pisa, in 1865, he was chiefly engaged in selecting pictures to be purchased by the British Government. He was editor of Kugler's "Handbook of the Italian Schools of Painting," and author of "Materials for a History of Oil Painting." [Illustration: JOASH SHOOTING THE ARROWS OF DELIVERANCE. _By_ DYCE. A.D. 1844. _In the possession of Mr. Bicknell._] WILLIAM DYCE (1806--1864), a native of Aberdeen, commenced his art studies at the Royal Scottish Academy. Visiting Italy he studied the old masters, and their influence had a lasting effect upon his style. In 1827 Dyce exhibited at the Royal Academy _Bacchus nursed by the Nymphs_. In 1830, he settled in Edinburgh, and achieved marked success. _The Descent of Venus_ appeared at the Academy in 1836. Having removed to London, Dyce exhibited, in 1844, _Joash shooting the Arrows of Deliverance_, and was elected an Associate. In 1847, he produced the sketch of a fresco executed at Osborne House, _Neptune assigning to Britannia the Empire of the Sea_. Dyce was chosen, in 1848, to decorate the Queen's Robing-Room in the Houses of Parliament, and commenced, but did not quite finish, a large series of frescoes illustrating _The Legend of King Arthur_. He produced other historic works, chiefly of Biblical subjects, and of great merit. GEORGE HARVEY (1805--1876) was born at St. Ninian's, Fifeshire, and apprenticed to a bookseller at Stirling. He quitted this craft at the age of eighteen, and commenced his art career at Edinburgh. In Scotland he gained a wide popularity. He took an active part in the establishment of the Royal Scottish Academy, and was knighted in 1867. His favourite subjects were Puritan episodes, such as _Covenanters' Communion_, _Bunyan imagining his Pilgrim's Progress in Bedford Gaol_, and _The Battle of Drumclog_. THOMAS DUNCAN (1807--1845), a native of Perthshire, first attracted notice by his pictures of a _Milkmaid_, and _Sir John Falstaff_. In 1840, he exhibited at the Royal Academy his historical painting, _Entrance of Prince Charlie into Edinburgh after Preston Pans_, and next year produced _Waefu' Heart_, from the ballad of "Auld Robin Gray," which is now at South Kensington. [Illustration: HAROLD, RETURNED FROM NORMANDY, PRESENTS HIMSELF TO EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. _By_ MACLISE. A.D. 1866. _From the "Story of the Norman Conquest."_]