Richard Dadd

1817–1886

In Tate Britain

Walk Through British Art: 1840

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Rooms

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Biography

Richard Dadd (1 August 1817 – 7 January 1886) was an English painter of the Victorian era, noted for his depictions of fairies and other supernatural subjects, Orientalist scenes, and enigmatic genre scenes, rendered with obsessively minuscule detail. Most of the works for which he is best known were created while he was a patient in Bethlem and Broadmoor hospitals.

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Artworks

Richard Dadd The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke

1855–64

On display at Tate Britain part of Walk Through British Art T00598

Richard Dadd The Flight out of Egypt

1849–50

On display at Tate Britain part of Walk Through British Art N05767

Richard Dadd Portrait of a Young Man

1853

T06665

Richard Dadd The Child’s Problem

1857

View by appointment N06251

Richard Dadd Wandering Musicians

c.1878

T12133

Sorry, copyright restrictions prevent us from showing this object here

Richard Dadd Bacchanalian Scene

1862

On display at Tate Britain part of Walk Through British Art L01705

Richard Dadd The Pilot Boat

1858–9

N04502

Richard Dadd A Turk

1863

View by appointment N03023

See all 8

Film and audio

Talking Point

Why I Love: Richard Dadd's The Flight out of Egypt

Hear our staff talk about their favourite artworks

TateShots

Richard Dadd: The Artist and the Asylum

Murder, insanity and painting – discover the fascinating story of artist Richard Dadd

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Listen

Poem of the Month: Clare Pollard

This November Clare Pollard presents her poem, based on Richard Dadd’s The Fairy-Feller’s Master Stroke, 1855-64, currently on ...

Features

William Powell Frith, ‘Dolly Varden’ c.1842–9

Art Term

The Clique

The Clique was an informal society formed in around 1837 by a group of friends while they were students at ...

William Blake, ‘Oberon, Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing’ c.1786

Art Term

Fairy painting

Fairy painting is particularly associated with the Victorian period, art that depicts fairies and other subjects from the supernatural

William Blake The Circle of the Lustful: Francesca da Rimini (The Whirlwind of Lovers) 1824–7

Tate Etc

Between terror and ecstasy: Artistic hallucination

Jean-FranÃ§ois Chevrier

Stories of hallucinations in art and literature date back to the Bible, but the idea of the artistic hallucination is ...

Tate Etc

Tate Etc. issue 23: Autumn 2011

Tate Etc. Issue 23 Autumn 2011, online edition of Tate's magazine

Tate Etc

Away with the fairies: Richard Dadd

Nicholas Tromans

The Victorian artist is best known for two things: murdering his father, and painting The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke while ...

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Blue Rigi, Sunrise’ 1842

Tate Etc

Colour me British: Watercolour I

Klaus Kertess , Jerry Brotton , Vidya Gastaldon , David Attenborough , Jennifer Higgie , Silke Otto-Knapp , Matsui Fuyuko , Deanna Petherbridge and David Musgrave

Tate Britain is staging a grand survey of watercolour painting in Great Britain, from the early thirteenth century through to ...