Richard Dadd
Quick Facts
Richard Dadd was an English painter best known for his fanciful fairy paintings and his raving lunacy.
Lived: August 1, 1817 - January 7, 1886
Birthplace: Chatham, Great Britain
Nationality: English
Education: Royal Academy Schools, London
Movement: Victorian era
Specialty: In addition to fairy paintings he also painted landscapes and shipping scenes.
Mediums: mostly watercolors, also oils and drawings
Died: 1886, Berkshire, Great Britain, consumption
Strange Facts: As a young man he was good natured and showed great promise as an artist, later in his twenties, he murdered his father and while attempting to flee the country he stabbed a stranger on a train.
When he was captured he claimed that the Egyptian god Osiris had commanded him to do these things and more including killing the emperor of Austria and the pope.
He was committed to an asylum for the criminally insane where he continued to paint for the next 42 years, he created some of his most important works while he was there and much of it is still owned by the hospital.
See also: Famous Artists, Fairies
Tate Online
A biography and 8 works including The Flight out of Egypt, Portrait of a Young Man, and The Child's Problem.
The British Museum
Information about Dadd's painting The Halt in the Desert an important work that disappeared until 1987 when it was discovered on the Antiques Roadshow television program.
Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives and Museum
Around 45 images including paintings, drawings, and 3 letters written by Dadd.
Getty Museum
A brief biography.
ArtRenewal
A biography and six images including high resolution copies of The Fairy Feller's MasterStroke and Puck.
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