Tithe Barn, Bradford-on-Avon

An inscription on the back of this watercolour identifies the scene and states that it was 'painted on the spot in the autumn of 1877'. George Price Boyce (1826-1897) was a great friend of the artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti and other members of the group of painters known as the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Indeed, we know a good deal about the Pre-Raphaelites from Boyce's diaries. Boyce derived from them the careful and minute attention to detail shown in his work. The Tithe Barn at Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire is a massive and celebrated survivor of medieval architecture. It was built in the early 14th century. The ‘tithe’ was the contribution in corn and other vegetables that every member of each English parish was obliged to make towards the maintenance of the parish’s church and priest.