Richard Dadd | |
|---|---|
 Richard Dadd working onContradiction: Oberon and Titania (1854/1858). Photograph byHenry Hering [fr;it]. | |
| Born | (1817-08-01)1 August 1817 Chatham, Kent, England |
| Died | 7 January 1886(1886-01-07) (aged 68) Broadmoor Hospital,Berkshire, England |
| Occupation | Artist |
Richard Dadd (1 August 1817 – 7 January 1886) was an English painter of theVictorian era, noted for his depictions offairies and other supernatural subjects,Orientalist scenes, and enigmaticgenre scenes, rendered with obsessively minuscule detail. Most of the works for which he is best known were created while he was a patient inBethlem andBroadmoor hospitals.
Dadd was born atChatham, Kent, on 1 August 1817, the son of chemist Robert Dadd (1788/9–1843) and Mary Ann (1790–1824), daughter of the shipwright Richard Martin.[1] He was educated atKing's School, Rochester, where his aptitude for drawing was evident at an early age, leading to his admission to theRoyal Academy Art Schools at the age of 20.[2] He was awarded the medal for life drawing in 1840.[3] WithWilliam Powell Frith,Augustus Egg,Henry O'Neil and others, he foundedThe Clique, of which he was generally considered to be the leading talent.[4] He was also trained atWilliam Dadson's Academy of Art.[3]
Among his best-known early works are the illustrations he produced forThe Book of British Ballads (1842), and afrontispiece he designed forThe Kentish Coronal (1840).[3]
In July 1842,Sir Thomas Phillips, the former mayor of Newport, chose Dadd to accompany him as his draughtsman on an expedition through Europe toGreece,Turkey,Southern Syria and finallyEgypt. In November of that year they spent a gruelling two weeks in Southern Syria, passing fromJerusalem toJordan and returning across theEngaddi wilderness. Toward the end of December, while travelling up theNile by boat, Dadd underwent a dramatic personality change, becoming delusional, increasingly violent, and believing himself to be under the influence of the Egyptian godOsiris. His condition was initially thought to besunstroke.[5]
On his return to England in May 1843, Dadd was diagnosed to be of unsound mind and was taken by his family to recuperate in the rural village ofCobham, Kent. In August of that year, having become convinced that his father was theDevil in disguise, Dadd killed him with a knife and fled to France.[6] En route to Paris, Dadd attempted to kill a fellow passenger with a razor but was overpowered and arrested by police. Dadd confessed to killing his father and was returned to England, where he was committed to the criminal department ofBethlem psychiatric hospital (also known as Bedlam). There and subsequently at the newly createdBroadmoor Hospital, Dadd was cared for in an enlightened manner by Doctors William Wood,William Orange and SirWilliam Charles Hood.[7]
Dadd probably hadparanoid schizophrenia.[8] Two of his siblings had the condition, while a third had "a private attendant" for unknown reasons.[5]
In hospital, Dadd was encouraged to continue painting, and in 1852 he created a portrait of one of his doctors,Alexander Morison, which now hangs in theScottish National Portrait Gallery. Dadd painted many of his masterpieces in Bethlem and Broadmoor, includingThe Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke, which he worked on between 1855 and 1864. Dadd was pictured at work on hisContradiction: Oberon and Titania by the London society photographerHenry Hering [fr;it]. Also dating from the 1850s are the 33 watercolour drawings titledSketches to Illustrate the Passions, which includeGrief or Sorrow,Love, andJealousy, as well asAgony-Raving Madness andMurder.[9] Like most of his works, these are executed on a small scale and feature protagonists whose eyes are fixed in a peculiar, unfocused stare.[10] Dadd also produced many shipping scenes and landscapes during his hospitalization, such as the ethereal 1861 watercolourPort Stragglin. These are executed with a miniaturist's eye for detail, which belies the fact that they are products of imagination and memory.[11]
After 20 years at Bethlem, Dadd was moved toBroadmoor Hospital, a newly built high-security facility in Berkshire. There he remained for the remainder of his life, painting constantly and receiving infrequent visitors; he died on 7 January 1886, "from an extensive disease of the lungs".[12] A "substantial number" of his works are on display in the Bethlem Royal Hospital Museum.[1]
Freddie Mercury was inspired to write the song 'The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke' based on Dadd's painting, which he had seen at the Tate Gallery. In 2013Neil Gaiman wrote an essay about the painting for the magazineIntelligent Life (now called1843).[14]
Angela Carter wroteCome unto these Yellow Sands, a radio-play based on Dadd's life, first broadcast in 1979.[15]
Canadian authorR. J. Anderson acknowledges Dadd as the basis of her fictional painter Alfred Wrenfield, who figures prominently in her young adult fantasy novelKnife (2009).[16]
In 1987, a long-lost watercolour by Dadd,The Artist's Halt in the Desert, was discovered byPeter Nahum on the BBC TV programmeAntiques 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 theDead Sea, with Dadd at the far right.[17] It was later sold for £100,000 to theBritish Museum.[18]
Loreena McKennitt features Dadd's 1862 painting "Bacchanalian Scene" on the cover of her 1987 Christmas CDTo Drive the Cold Winter Away.[citation needed]
Terry Pratchett includedThe Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke in his 2003Discworld novelThe Wee Free Men. Tiffany, the protagonist, finds it in a book of fairy-tales and later escapes from a dream set within the picture. In the author's note, Pratchett describes the painting and gives a brief but sympathetic summary of Dadd's personal history and struggle with mental illness.[citation needed]
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