On a painting trip prompted by advice from Ruskin, Boyce stayed at Airola and Giornico In Switzerland from July until November, 1856, returning to London on 7th January 1857. In his diary for 26th May 1857, he recorded that his sister's fiance‚ Henry Tanworth Wells had taken William Michael Rossetti to Boyce's studio in Buckingham Street in search of works for a Pre-Raphaelite exhibition at 4 Russell Place, Fitzroy Square: 'Letter from Wells saying he and Rossetti had been to my studio and walked off with that sunset sketch, and the crypt of St. Niccolo at Giornico, to exhibit with the collection of Pre-Raphaelite Painters' work at 4 Russell Place, Fitzroy Square.' Later that same year, Ruskin visited Boyce in his studio to see his Italian work: 'Ruskin came and stayed an hour. He seemed a good deal taken with several of my Giornico drawings ...' (Old Watercolour Society Club).