William Cave Thomas (8 May 1820 – 1906), generally referred to as Cave Thomas was an English Victorian painter of historical, religious and literary subjects, also known as a sculptor and author.
In 1843 he returned to London, where he had some success as a painter and taught at an art school in Camden Town, and over the years wrote articles for art journals and specialist magazines such as The Builder.[2]
Thomas was described as a fringe member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, perhaps an understatement as although his output was not large, he was a friend of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and shared a studio with Ford Madox Brown in the 1840s. It has been suggested that it was he who gave the original title, The Germ, for their famous magazine.[2]
Albrecht Dürer is a large oil on canvas full-length portrait commissioned in 1863 by the builder of the Victoria and Albert Museum for its "Kensington Valhalla" court at South Kensington. Various artists were so commissioned, to be copied as mosaics representing great artists, and in the end Thomas's was not used.[6]
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