1817-1886 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 incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital. Dadd was born at Chatham, Medway in Kent, England, the son of a chemist. His aptitude for drawing was evident at an early age, leading to his admission to the Royal Academy of Arts at the age of 20. With William Powell Frith, Augustus Egg, Henry O'Neil and others, he founded The Clique, of which he was generally considered the leading talent. In July 1842, Sir Thomas Phillips, the former mayor of Newport, chose Dadd to accompany him as his draftsman on an expedition through Europe to Greece, Turkey, Palestine and finally Egypt. In November of that year they spent a gruelling two weeks in Palestine, passing from Jerusalem to Jordan and returning across the Engaddi wilderness. Toward the end of December, while travelling up the Nile by boat, Dadd underwent a dramatic personality change, becoming delusional and increasingly violent, and believing himself to be under the influence of the Egyptian god Osiris. His condition was initially thought to be sunstroke. On his return in the spring of 1843, he was diagnosed to be of unsound mind and was taken by his family to recuperate in the countryside village of Cobham, Kent. In August of that year, having become convinced that his father was the Devil in disguise, Dadd killed him with a knife and fled for France. En route to Paris Dadd attempted to kill another tourist with a razor, but was overpowered and was arrested by the police. Dadd confessed to the killing of his father and was returned to England, where he was committed to the criminal department of Bethlem psychiatric hospital (also known as Bedlam). Here and subsequently at the newly created Broadmoor, Dadd was cared for (and encouraged to continue painting) by the likes of Drs William Wood and Sir W. Charles Hood, in an enlightened manner. Which condition he suffered from is unclear, but it is usually understood to be a form of paranoid schizophrenia.He appears to have been genetically predisposed to mental illness; two of his siblings were similarly afflicted, while a third had "a private attendant" for unknown reasons.In the hospital he was allowed to continue to paint and it was here that many of his masterpieces were created, including his most celebrated painting, The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke, which he worked on between 1855 and 1864. Also dating from the 1850s are the thirty-three watercolour drawings titled Sketches to Illustrate the Passions, which include Grief or Sorrow, Love, and Jealousy, as well as Agony-Raving Madness and Murder. Like most of his works these are executed on a small scale and feature protagonists whose eyes are fixed in a peculiar, unfocused stare.  Related Paintings of Richard Dadd :. | The Artist's Halt in the Desert (mk46) | Fairy Fellers Master Stroke | Imaginary Egyptian Harem | Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke | The Tombs of the Caliphs |
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Mednyanszky, Laszlo
Hungarian, 1852-1919 Ladislaus Josephus Balthasar Eustachius Mednyenszky was a Hungarian painter in the Impressionist tradition. Despite an aristocratic background, he spent most of his life moving around Europe working as an artist. Mednyenszky spent considerable periods in seclusion but mingled with people across society - in the aristocracy, art world, peasantry and army - many of whom became the subjects of his paintings. His most important works depict scenes of nature and poor, working people, particularly from his home region in Upper Hungary. Medny nszky was born in Beck, the Kingdom of Hungary (now Beckov in Slovakia), to Eduard Mednyenszky and Maria Anna Mednyenszky, (nee Szirmay) both from landowning families. Mednyenszky's family moved in 1861 to the chateau of his grandfather, Baltazer Szirmay, at Nagyőr (Strežky), near Szepesbela (Spišsk Bele) in north-eastern Hungary. This was to be the setting for many of his works. Medny nszky met the Austrian artist Thomas Ender in 1863 when Ender visited the chateau at Nagyőr. Ender took an interest in Mednyenszky's early efforts at drawing, lending his assistance to improve Mednyenszky's skills. Mednyenszky attended a grammar school in K??smerk (Kežmarok), near his home, then attended the Akademie der Bildenden Kenste (Academy of Fine Arts) in Munich in 1872 - 1873. Dissatisfied in Munich, he moved to Paris to attend the École des Beaux-Arts. After the death of his professor, Isidore-Alexandre Augustin Pils, in 1875, Mednyenszky left the École and began practicing independently from Montmartre. Mednyenszky returned to Nagyőr after 1877 to continue painting, and subsequently travelled widely in Europe, between his childhood homes in Upper Hungary and Budapest, Vienna, Paris and beyond. Mednyenszky visited the Szolnok artists' colony in the autumn of 1877 and Italy in 1878. His mother died in 1883, after which he lived in seclusion in Nagyőr. He returned to Nagyőr in 1887 to help deal with an outbreak of cholera but soon fell ill himself, with pneumonia. He spent much of 1889-1892 in Paris and returned regularly to Nagyőr until 1900.
Antoine Vollon
(April 23, 1833 - August 27, 1900) was a French realist artist, best known as a painter of still lifes, landscapes and figures. During his lifetime, Vollon was a successful celebrity, enjoyed an excellent reputation, and was called a "painter's painter".
john keats
Born: 31 October 1795 Birthplace: Near London, England Died: 23 February 1821 (tuberculosis) Best Known As: Romantic poet who wrote "Ode to a Nightingale"