The impact of mental illness on the development of the artistic style of the English artist Richard Dadd in the nineteenth century

Document Type : scientific articles

Author

Fine Arts, Helwan University, Department of Photography

Abstract

Summary:

Richard Dadd (1817-1886) grew up in England. During this era, England witnessed the propagation of the Victorian style in painting, which was considered unique.

Dadd produced a lot of work which continued till a turning point in his career happened when he did his oriental trip in 1842 as he visited Egypt and the Middle East. As Dadd suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and this affected his paintings very much in most of the aspects ; the subjects , the formulation and the psychological projections.

When the researcher studies and analyzes the changes that happened to Dadd’s paintings since his beginnings till he became ill in 1842 when he accompanied Sir Thomas Philips in his long trip to the Middle East. When Dad returned from this long trip, he killed his father claiming that he was under the possession of the Egyptian god Osiris. After the murder of his father, Dadd was admitted to royal hospital of psychiatric and mental illness at Bethlem where he spent more than 40 years of his life. During this period he produced many of his paintings and art activities. His artistic talent was later recognized through the British Museum’s acquisition of many of his works, in addition to many poets and foreign film creators drawing inspiration for their fictional characters from the elements depicted in his artistic paintings, especially his painting known as The Fairy Feller's Master.

Keywords

Journal of Heritage and Design

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 08 November 2023

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