John Dibblee Crace

John Dibblee Crace (1838 – 18 November 1919) was a distinguished British interior designer, who provided decorative schemes for the British Museum, the National Gallery, [ [http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/about/press/2005/portico.htm NG London/Press: The National Gallery's Portico re-opens ] ] the Royal Academy and Longleat among many other notable buildings.

J.D. Crace was the eldest of eleven surviving children of John Gregory Crace (1809–1889), interior decorator and author, and his wife, Sarah Jane Hine Langley (1815–1894), the daughter of John Inwood Langley (1790–1874) of Greenwich, a civil servant at the Royal Naval Hospital. His father was renowned as a decorator who was in partnership for eight years with A.W.N. Pugin, the eminent Gothic revival architect, and was head of a decorating firm founded in 1768 by his great-great-grandfather Edward Crace, a coach-decorator and keeper of the king's pictures. Edward and his son Frederick were responsible for the decoration of Brighton Pavilion and other Royal palaces.

Considered the acme of High Victorianism, his work fell out of fashion in the 20th century and much of it was painted over. Only recently has his public work returned to the fore, after a string of restorations (of the British Museum in 2000, the RA in 2004 and the National Gallery in 2005) that revealed his original designs.Fact|date=February 2007

Crace's decoration for the Royal Academy's Fine Rooms is under threat as a painting by William Kent in good condition is known to be underneath it. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1169415,00.html High-level schism opens up at Royal Academy | | Guardian Unlimited Arts ] ]

He is buried with most of the dynasty at West Norwood Cemetery

References

*Megan Aldrich, ‘Crace, John Dibblee (1838–1919)’, "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press, 2004

Notes