Richard Dadd
Richard Dadd (born August 1, 1817 in Chatham , Kent , † January 7, 1886 in London ) was a painter of the Victorian Age . He focused on fairies and other supernatural subjects, which he painted with the utmost meticulousness.
Live and act
Due to his talent shown early, Dadd was accepted into the Academy of Arts in Great Britain at the age of 20 . Together with William Powell Frith , Augustus Egg , Henry O'Neil and others, he founded Die Clique in 1838 . During a trip to the Middle East and Europe in 1842, Dadd became increasingly insane and increasingly violent. He believed himself to be under the influence of the Egyptian god Osiris . Upon his return, a mental disorder was diagnosed. He was then taken to the village of Cobham , Kent by his family to recover. In 1843, Dadd stabbed his father to death because he believed he was the devil in disguise. Then Dadd fled to France . On the way to Paris he tried to murder a tourist with a razor and was arrested by the police. Dadd was brought back to England and admitted to the closed ward of Bedlam Psychiatric Hospital .
At the hospital, Dadd was allowed to continue painting. Many of his masterpieces were created there. After 20 years in Bedlam, he was transferred to another psychiatric hospital ( Broadmoor ), where he spent the rest of his life. It is unclear from which illness he suffered exactly, one assumes a form of schizophrenia . It is also believed that Dadd suffered from what is now known as bipolar disorder .
His celebrated painting The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke ( The master stroke of fairy woodcutter ) was the inspiration for an eponymous song of the band Queen , that of Freddie Mercury was written and published 1974th Furthermore, the British author Angela Carter wrote a radio play (included in the collection Come unto these yellow sands ) based on his life. In the novel The Wee Free Men (German title: The Wee Free Men ) used Terry Pratchett 's The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke as a background for the action in Chapters 10 and 11. FIG.
Literature (novel)
- Jennifer Higgie : Bedlam and other stations on a journey that a certain Richard Dadd undertook in 1842 , with an afterword by Dino Heicker, Parthas Verlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-86601-330-8 .
- Nicholas Tromans: Richard Dadd: The Artist and the Asylum , London: Tate Publ., 2011, ISBN 978-1-85437-959-7
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ FAZ of October 21, 2010, page R4: Sensitive journey into the abyss of the soul .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Dadd, Richard |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English painter of the Victorian era |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 1, 1817 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chatham , Kent |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 7, 1886 |
| Place of death | London |