He was a portraitist and painter of historical genre subjects often inspired by the works of Shakespeare.

Thomas Francis Dicksee was born in London on 13 December 1819 and was the pupil of H. P. Briggs.

In The Dictionary of Victorian Painters, Herbert Dicksee is given as his son also, but according to the City of London School, where Herbert taught, he was the son of John Robert Dicksee.

Thomas Dicksee also produced a series of portraits of family members, and also painted idealised portraits, including the Shakespearean characters Ophelia, Beatrice, Miranda and Ariel.

[1] Dicksee would become particularly well known for his depictions of Shakespearean heroines and exhibited a total of seven at the Royal Academy.