Profile of the Victorian Artist Richard Dadd

This English Painter Worked Obsessively Throughout his Incarceration

May 18, 2009

Richard Dadd is best known for his fairy paintings, but his facinating work encompasses so much more.

The Victorians were tremendously interested in other worlds. Spiritualism was a popular fad in Europe and America in the 1850s and many were fascinated by mythology and fairies, including the poet Christina Rossetti. Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the cynical sleuth Sherlock Holmes, surprised many by writing openly about his belief in fairies. The Pre-Raphaelites are the most well known fantasy artists of the Victorian age, but Dadd’s rich, intensely detailed work is an important contribution to the art of the era.

Biography of Richard Dadd

Richard Dadd was born on 1st August 1817 in Chatham, Kent, South-East England and was the fourth of nine children. His father Robert was an apothecary and chemist. Dadd attended The King’s School in nearby Rochester. He started sketching at around age thirteen, and his talent was such that he was admitted to the Royal Academy in 1837 at the age of twenty.

Here he formed an artistic group, the Clique, and won three medals for draftsmanship. His exhibitions at the Academy won him the reputation of one of the most promising young artists of his generation, and in 1840-41 he focused on Shakespeare illustrations. In 1842 he was commissioned to illustrate Samuel Carter Hall’s Book of British Ballads.

Dadd’s Trip Abroad and Mental Breakdown

In the same year Dadd embarked on a tour of Europe and the Middle East with his patron Sir Thomas Phillips, where he filled several notebooks with intricate illustrations of the trip. One of these is owned by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Unfortunately, Dadd suffered a severe decline in his mental health during this time. While travelling on the Nile he believed he was conversing with the Egyptian god Osiris.

Dadd’s mental deterioration continued on his return to England. On 28th August 1843 he murdered his father with a knife and razor, believing him to be a demon and that Osiris had instructed him to carry out the act. When his living quarters were inspected drawings of friends and family with slit throats were discovered. He was certified insane in 1844 and committed to Bethlam Hospital, popularly known as ‘Bedlam,’ until 1864 when he went to the newly built Broadmoor. He remained here until his death from consumption on 7th January 1886. His painting was encouraged during his incarceration by Doctors, and it was during this time that he created some of his greatest work.

The Halt in the Desert (1845)

Through his confinement Dadd remained absorbed in his memory of his journey with Sir Thomas, and painted many scenes from imagination. This example depicts men sitting round a campfire, and was inspired by a night spent camping out with Bedouin guides near the Red Sea. A self portrait of Dadd can be seen on the far right of the fire. The work mysteriously went missing in 1857 only to reappear one hundred and thirty years later on the BBC programme The Antiques Roadshow, where members of the public have things valued by experts. The Halt in the Desert was bought by the British Museum in 1987.

The Fairy Feller’s Master Stroke (1855-64)

This intricate work was presented to the Tate Britain by the war poet Siegfried Sassoon, in memory of Julian Dadd (Richard Dadd’s great nephew), who gave his life in the war. It depicts a ‘Fairy Feller’ with his axe raised, about to split open a chestnut, to be used for Queen Mab’s carriage. The painting is full of disturbing characters, including Shakespeare’s Oberon and Titania and a wild eyed elf watching the scene intently. Despite working on it for nine years, Dadd did not consider it completed.

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