Richard Dadd

The Flight out of Egypt

1849–50

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

License this image

In Tate Britain

Walk Through British Art: 1840

Free entry

Artist: Richard Dadd 1817–1886
Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions: Support: 1010 × 1264 mm
frame: 1255 × 1515 × 100 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Purchased 1947
Reference: N05767

Display caption

In the early 1840s Richard Dadd accompanied Sir Thomas Phillips on a long tour of the Middle East as a travelling artist. On his return he showed signs of mental disturbance and murdered his father, claiming he was under the influence of the Egyptian god Osiris. Untitled by the artist, this painting is an assemblage of some of the scenes he encountered. In a letter of 1842, Dadd revealed his elation and confusion: ‘the excitement of these scenes has been enough to turn the brain of an ordinary weak-minded person like myself, and often I have lain down at night with my imagination so full of wild vagaries that I have really and truly doubted my own sanity.’

Gallery label, November 2016

Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.

Film and audio

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

Hear our staff talk about their favourite artworks

Features

Extraordinary scenes of beautifully arranged horrible wilderness

Briony Llewellyn

British Orientalist Painting
MicroTate 2

Jennifer Wiseman , Neal Brown , Lisa Appignanesi and Paul Noble

Contemporary reflections on a work in the Tate collection

Explore

architecture(41,336)
- residential(5,541)
- - tent(76)
leisure and pastimes(7,669)
- eating and drinking(747)
- - drinking(270)
- music and entertainment(2,170)
- - dance(285)
nature(45,212)
- animals: mammals(4,859)
- - goat(134)
- landscape(25,911)
- - desert(128)
  - gorge(629)
- trees(3,240)
- - palm(190)
- water: inland(11,122)
- - stream(297)
objects(23,376)
- clothing and personal items(5,986)
- - armour(106)
  - helmet(275)
- fine arts and music(3,744)
- - instrument, trumpet(84)
- vessels and containers(2,162)
- - jar(113)
- weapons(934)
- - spear(107)
people(35,142)
- actions: expressive(2,655)
- - comforting(76)
- actions: postures and motions(9,219)
- - reclining(806)
  - sitting(3,371)
  - standing(3,207)
- adults(22,735)
- - man(10,497)
  - woman(9,056)
- children(3,423)
- - baby(530)
  - boy(1,176)
  - girl(1,121)
- ethnicity(4,564)
- - black(807)
  - Middle Eastern(144)
- groups(5,206)
- - crowd(653)
places(41,540)
- countries and continents(17,556)
- - Egypt(91)
religion and belief(8,357)
- Bible: New Testament(536)
- - Christ(277)
  - Flight into Egypt(14)
  - Holy Family(21)
  - Matthew, chapter 2(13)
  - Virgin Mary(141)
- Saints(216)
- - St Joseph(28)
society(34,905)
- dress: nations/regions(274)
- - Middle East(37)
- transport: land(2,943)
- - riding(519)
work and occupations(14,165)
- military(1,630)
- - soldier(1,212)

You might like

Richard Dadd Portrait of a Young Man

1853

On display at Tate Britain part of Walk Through British Art
Richard Dadd The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke

1855–64

On display at Tate Britain part of Walk Through British Art
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, Bt The Annunciation and the Adoration of the Magi

1861
Ford Madox Brown Chaucer at the Court of Edward III

1856–68

On display at Tate Britain part of Walk Through British Art
Richard Dadd Wandering Musicians

c.1878
Robert Braithwaite Martineau The Last Day in the Old Home

1862
Dante Gabriel Rossetti St Catherine

1857
Thomas Sidney Cooper Among the Cumberland Mountains - Mist Clearing Off

1847, exhibited 1847
Thomas Sidney Cooper Milking Time - Study of a Farm-Yard near Canterbury

1833–4, exhibited 1834
Edward Matthew Ward Doctor Johnson in the Ante-Room of the Lord Chesterfield Waiting for an Audience, 1748

1845, exhibited 1848
Henry Perronet Briggs The First Interview between the Spaniards and the Peruvians

exhibited 1827
John Frederick Herring The Frugal Meal

exhibited 1847
Dante Gabriel Rossetti The Girlhood of Mary Virgin

1848–9

On display at Tate Britain part of Walk Through British Art
Dante Gabriel Rossetti Ecce Ancilla Domini! (The Annunciation)

1849–50
Dante Gabriel Rossetti Beata Beatrix

c.1864–70