The British Journal of Psychiatry (2001) 179: a
© 2001 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Psychiatry in pictures
ROBERT HOWARD
2001: A Mind Odyssey is a celebration of the arts, psychiatry and
the mind. For further information see
http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/campaigns/2001/or e-mail:
awedderburn@rcpsych.ac.uk
Three pictures by Richard Dadd have been chosen to open this column, which
will continue as a monthly feature of the Journal. Richard Dadd
(1817-86) was commissioned to accompany the Welsh lawyer Sir Thomas Phillips
on a 10-month tour of Europe and the Middle East in 1842. While on a ship from
Alexandria to Malta, Dadd became convinced that Phillips was the devil in
disguise, playing at cards for the Captain's soul. He returned home alone,
believing that he was persecuted by the devil and that his actions were
controlled by Osiris. Three months later he killed his father, believing him
too to be the devil in disguise. Dadd was then confined for the rest of his
life, first at Bethlem and then at Broadmoor, where he continued to paint and
draw. Portrait of Sir Thomas Phillips in Turkish Dress and
Portrait of Sir Thomas Phillips in Arab Dress were made either during
the Middle East journey or in the period between Dadd's return and the murder.
The enormous gun had been purchased specially to shoot crocodiles on the Nile,
but proved ineffective against their tough skins. Fantasie
Egyptienne, painted in 1865, was presumably based on Dadd's recollections
of his travels and typifies the fine brush work of his watercolours. The
figure at the front of the group seems to be Phillips; the subject of Dadd's
first reported psychotic symptom and apparently still an important part of his
internal preoccupations. Pictures are from the collection of the Bethlem Royal
Hospital Archives and Museum. From 9 to 20 July these and other watercolours
by Dadd, together with many other works from the Bethlem collection, will be
on show in an exhibition ‘Committed Art’, at Peter Nahum at the
Leicester Galleries, 5 Ryder Street, London SW1Y 6PY. Open Monday—Friday
10.00a.m.-5.30p.m.
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