Richard Dadd. The painting he is working on is Contradiction: Oberon and Titania (1854/1858).

Richard Dadd (August 1, 1817 – January 7, 1886) was an English painter of the Victorian era, noted for his depictions of fairies and other supernatural subjects, Orientalist scenes, and enigmatic genre scenes, rendered with obsessively minuscule detail. Most of the works for which he is best known were created while he was incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2257x2163, 745 KB) Summary Portrait of Richard Dadd (1817-1886) British painter. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2257x2163, 745 KB) Summary Portrait of Richard Dadd (1817-1886) British painter. ... is the 213th day of the year (214th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1817 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... is the 7th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1886 (MDCCCLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... Queen Victoria (shown here on the morning of her accession to the Throne, 20 June 1837) gave her name to the historic era The Victorian era of the United Kingdom marked the height of the British Industrial Revolution and the apex of the British Empire. ... by Sophie Anderson A fairy, or faery, is a creature from stories and mythology, often portrayed in art and literature as a minuscule humanoid with wings. ... For the book by Edward Said, see Orientalism (book). ...

Life and work

Dadd was born at Chatham, Medway in Kent, England, the son of a chemist. His aptitude for drawing was evident at an early age, leading to his admission to the Royal Academy of Arts at the age of 20. With William Powell Frith, Augustus Egg, Henry O'Neil and others, he founded The Clique, of which he was generally considered the leading talent. Chatham is an English town that developed around an important naval dockyard on the east bank of the River Medway to the east of London in the county of Kent. ... The Kent coat of arms For other uses, see Kent (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... This article refers to an art institution in London. ... Detail of a nude by Frith William Powell Frith (January 19, 1819 - November 9, 1909), was an English painter specialising in portraits and Victorian era narratives, who was elected to the Royal Academy in 1852. ... Augustus Egg, Travelling Companions, painted in 1862 Augustus Leopold Egg (May 21, 1816 - March 26, 1863) was a Victorian artist best known for his modern triptych Past and Present (1858), which depicts the break up of a middle-class Victorian family. ... Henry ONeil, The Pre-Raphaelite, a satire on the Pre-Raphaelites painted by ONeil in 1857 Henry Nelson ONeil (1817-1880) was an historical genre painter and minor Victorian writer. ... Henry ONeil, The Pre-Raphaelite, a satire on the Pre-Raphaelites painted by ONeil in 1857 The Clique was a group of Victorian artists founded by Richard Dadd. ...

In July of 1842 Sir Thomas Phillips, the former mayor of Newport, chose Dadd to accompany him as his draftsman on an expedition through Europe to Greece, Turkey, Palestine and finally Egypt. In November of that year they spent a grueling two weeks in Palestine, passing from Jerusalem to Jordan and returning across the Engaddi wilderness. Toward the end of December, while travelling up the Nile by boat, Dadd underwent a dramatic personality change, becoming delusional and increasingly violent, and believing himself to be under the influence of the Egyptian god Osiris. His condition was initially thought to be sunstroke. 1842 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... This article is about the geographical area known as Palestine. ... For other uses, see Jerusalem (disambiguation). ... Shulamit Fall at Nahal David Nahal Arugot An ibex at the Ein Gedi nature reserve Ein Gedi (‎, lit. ... The Nile (Arabic: , transliteration: , Ancient Egyptian iteru, Coptic piaro or phiaro) is a major north-flowing river in Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. ... For other uses, see Osiris (disambiguation). ... Hyperthermia is an acute condition resulting from excessive exposure to heat, it is also known as heat stroke or sunstroke. ...

On his return in the spring of 1843, he was diagnosed to be of unsound mind and was taken by his family to recuperate in the countryside village of Cobham, Kent. In August of that year, having become convinced that his father was the Devil in disguise, Dadd murdered him with a knife and fled for France. En route to Paris Dadd attempted to murder another tourist with a razor, but was unsuccessful and was arrested by the police. Dadd confessed to the murder of his father and was returned to England, where he was committed to the criminal department of Bethlem psychiatric hospital (also known as Bedlam). Year 1843 (MDCCCXLIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Cobham is a small village with a reputation for being still relatively unspoilt even today. ... This page is about the concept of the Devil. ... The Eiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... The Bethlem Royal Hospital of London, which has been variously known as St Mary Bethlehem, Bethlem Hospital, Bethlehem Hospital and Bedlam, is the worlds oldest psychiatric hospital. ...

Which condition he suffered from is unclear, but it is usually understood to be a form of schizophrenia. Alternatively, it is sometimes claimed that he suffered from what is now known as bipolar disorder. He appears to have been genetically predisposed to mental illness; two of his siblings were similarly afflicted, while a third had "a private attendant" for unknown reasons.^[1] For other uses, see Bipolar. ...

The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke by Richard Dadd, oil on canvas, 67cm x 52.5cm, 1855-64, Tate Gallery, London, United Kingdom

In the hospital he was allowed to continue to paint and it was here that many of his masterpieces were created, including his most celebrated painting, The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke, which he worked on between 1855 and 1864. Also dating from the 1850s are the thirty-three watercolor drawings titled Sketches to Illustrate the Passions, which include Grief or Sorrow, Love, and Jealousy, as well as Agony-Raving Madness and Murder. Like most of his works these are executed on a small scale and feature protagonists whose eyes are fixed in a peculiar, unfocused stare. Dadd also produced many shipping scenes and landscapes during his incarceration, such as the ethereal 1861 watercolor Port Stragglin. These are executed with a miniaturist's eye for detail which belie the fact that they are products of imagination and memory. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (586x810, 222 KB) Richard Dadd. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (586x810, 222 KB) Richard Dadd. ... Richard Dadd. ...

After 20 years at Bethlem, in July of 1864, perhaps because Bedlam was overcrowded, Dadd was moved to a new lunatic asylum at Broadmoor, outside London. Here he remained, painting constantly and receiving infrequent visitors until January 7, 1886, when he died, "from an extensive disease of the lungs." Broadmoor Hospital is a highly secure psychiatric hospital at Crowthorne in the English county of Berkshire. ...

Legacy

The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke, was to become the title of a song by the rock band Queen. Come unto these Yellow Sands, a play based on his life, was written by Angela Carter. Oliver Knussen considered naming his piece Flourish with Fireworks after The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke, as its composition owes a lot to the small, exquisite, quirky details in the painting and contains a similar attempted correlation of large and small scale. The Wee Free Men, a novel by Terry Pratchett, edited in 2003, was in a central part inspired by The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke. Pratchett's friend Neil Gaiman includes a reference to Dadd in Sandman. The painting also is a plot element in The Witches of Chiswick by Robert Rankin. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Queen are an English rock band formed in 1970 in London by guitarist Brian May, singer Freddie Mercury and drummer Roger Taylor, with bassist John Deacon joining the following year. ... Angela Carter (May 7, 1940 – February 16, 1992) was an English novelist and journalist, known for her post-feminist magical realist and science fiction works. ... For The Wee Free, see the Free Church of Scotland. ... Terence David John Pratchett OBE (born April 28, 1948, in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England[1]) is an English fantasy author, best known for his Discworld series. ... Neil Richard Gaiman () (born November 10, 1960) is an English author of science fiction and fantasy short stories and novels, graphic novels, comics, and films. ... The Sandman is a comic book series written by Neil Gaiman and published in the United States by DC Comics for 75 issues from 1988 until 1996. ... The Witches Of Chiswick is a novel by the British author Robert Rankin, the title parodying that of The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike. ... Robert Rankin Robert Fleming Rankin (born July 27, 1949) is a prolific British humorous novelist. ...

In 1987 a long-lost watercolor by Dadd, The Artist's Halt in the Desert, was discovered by Peter Nahum on the BBC TV programme "Antiques Roadshow". Made while the artist was incarcerated, it is based on sketches made during his tour of the Middle East, and shows his party encamped by the Dead Sea, with Dadd at the far right. (http://www.leicestergalleries.com/art-and-antiques/detail/11795) It was later sold for £100,000 to the British Museum. Antiques Roadshow is a British human interest television show in which antique appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom and appraise antiques brought in by local residents. ... The Dead Sea (‎, yam ha-melaħ, Sea of Salt; Quranic Arabic: , baħrᵘ l- mayitⁱ [3], Death Sea) is a salt lake between the West Bank and Israel to the west, and Jordan to the east. ... The British Museum in London, England is one of the worlds greatest museums of human history and culture. ...

References

See also

• Fairy painting

A genre of painting began with Victorian fairy painters such as Richard Dadd, and John Anster Fitzgerald and fairy tale illustrators like Arthur Rackham who illustrated scenes from A Midsummer Nights Dream and The Tempest by Shakespeare, as well as their own fantasies of the miniature faery world. ...

External links

• Tate online: Richard Dadd (by Patricia H. Allderidge)
• Dadd's portrait of Alexander Morison
• Biography of Richard Dadd
• Richard Dadd's Contradiction: Interactive