Premium pages left without account:

Auction archive: Lot number 166

DADD, Richard (1817-1886). Autograph letter signed to David Roberts, Athens, 4 September 1842, 3 pages, on a bifolium, 245 x 200mm , on light blue paper, the first page cross-written, address panel ('David Roberts Esqre, R.A. 7 Fitzroy Street, Fitzro...

Auction 02.06.1999
2 Jun 1999
Estimate
£2,000 - £3,000
ca. US$3,191 - US$4,787
Price realised:
£6,900
ca. US$11,012
Auction archive: Lot number 166

DADD, Richard (1817-1886). Autograph letter signed to David Roberts, Athens, 4 September 1842, 3 pages, on a bifolium, 245 x 200mm , on light blue paper, the first page cross-written, address panel ('David Roberts Esqre, R.A. 7 Fitzroy Street, Fitzro...

Auction 02.06.1999
2 Jun 1999
Estimate
£2,000 - £3,000
ca. US$3,191 - US$4,787
Price realised:
£6,900
ca. US$11,012
Beschreibung:

DADD, Richard (1817-1886). Autograph letter signed to David Roberts Athens, 4 September 1842, 3 pages, on a bifolium, 245 x 200mm , on light blue paper, the first page cross-written, address panel ('David Roberts Esqre, R.A. 7 Fitzroy Street, Fitzroy Square London'), seal (slightly discoloured in outer margins, tiny hole in first leaf touching one word, seal tear). One of four recorded letters describing Dadd's travels in Italy, Greece and the Levant in the year before he murdered his father. David Roberts to whom three of the letters are addressed, had been elected to the Royal Academy the previous year, and on his recommendation Dadd accompanied Sir Thomas Phillips a solicitor and former mayor of Newport in Wales, to record the journey in sketches. The present letter offers a lengthy and vivid account of his experiences between Venice and Athens, revealing his enthusiasms and prejudices, and state of mind. In Venice, 'the pictures of Paul Veronese and Tintoretto are the most marvellous things imaginable in respect of execution and colour' while the modern exhibition at the Academy is condemned as 'infamous daubs', and in St Mark's, 'one of the most gorgeous temples conceivable [...] the altars are rich to excess and with the lights burning, priests officiating and people kneeling about the place', he gratifyingly recalls Roberts' own work, and continues with comments on paintings and frescoes at Bologna and Ancona to interest his correspondent. Dadd's perceptions of foreigners are generally unflattering, remarking particularly upon their avariciousness, 'The gondoliers are the greatest scamps breathing [...] at the end of the voyage they asked for a gratuity and grinned at their own impudence in doing so [...] there was never anything equal to the assurance with which all foreigners plunder travellers'. Elsewhere they swarm with 'greedy looks and clutching fingers' and his impressions reach a pinnacle of fascination and disgust in Corfu, where surrounded by 'a large assortment of pompous ruffians, splendid savages, grubby finery, wild costume, long matted hair, dark complexions and noisy shopkeepers, all styed in filth', he pulls out his sketchbook, and is 'immediately surrounded by the whole market; I never saw such an assemblage of deliciously villainous faces, they grinned, glowered, and exhibited every variety of curiosity. Oh such expression on such heads! is enough to turn the brain of an Artist'. Scornful of Patras and disappointed by Delphi, he finds Greece 'exquisitely beautiful', but generally 'an unhappy country'. In both Italy and Greece he refers derisively to the Roman Catholic or Orthodox rites. Poignantly in view of the tragedy of the following year, Dadd concludes by asking Roberts to call on his father to tell him that he is well and will write from Smyrna or Constantinople. Dadd returned to England in May 1843, his behaviour by now often bizarre and giving way to the suspicions and paranoid delusions foreshadowed in the present letter. On 28 August 1843 he stabbed his father in Cobham Park, believing that he was the devil. He fled to France but was brought back to England and committed to the Royal Bethlem Hospital, then the state asylum for the criminally insane. In his youth among the most gifted of his circle and popular for his gentle nature and intelligence, he continued to paint in confinement, and the two fairy paintings for which he is now best known ( Fairy Feller's Master-stroke and Contradiction: Oberon and Titania ) were completed in the asylum. One of the sketchbooks meticulously recording his travels is in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Auction archive: Lot number 166
Auction:
Datum:
2 Jun 1999
Auction house:
Christie's
London, King Street
Beschreibung:

DADD, Richard (1817-1886). Autograph letter signed to David Roberts Athens, 4 September 1842, 3 pages, on a bifolium, 245 x 200mm , on light blue paper, the first page cross-written, address panel ('David Roberts Esqre, R.A. 7 Fitzroy Street, Fitzroy Square London'), seal (slightly discoloured in outer margins, tiny hole in first leaf touching one word, seal tear). One of four recorded letters describing Dadd's travels in Italy, Greece and the Levant in the year before he murdered his father. David Roberts to whom three of the letters are addressed, had been elected to the Royal Academy the previous year, and on his recommendation Dadd accompanied Sir Thomas Phillips a solicitor and former mayor of Newport in Wales, to record the journey in sketches. The present letter offers a lengthy and vivid account of his experiences between Venice and Athens, revealing his enthusiasms and prejudices, and state of mind. In Venice, 'the pictures of Paul Veronese and Tintoretto are the most marvellous things imaginable in respect of execution and colour' while the modern exhibition at the Academy is condemned as 'infamous daubs', and in St Mark's, 'one of the most gorgeous temples conceivable [...] the altars are rich to excess and with the lights burning, priests officiating and people kneeling about the place', he gratifyingly recalls Roberts' own work, and continues with comments on paintings and frescoes at Bologna and Ancona to interest his correspondent. Dadd's perceptions of foreigners are generally unflattering, remarking particularly upon their avariciousness, 'The gondoliers are the greatest scamps breathing [...] at the end of the voyage they asked for a gratuity and grinned at their own impudence in doing so [...] there was never anything equal to the assurance with which all foreigners plunder travellers'. Elsewhere they swarm with 'greedy looks and clutching fingers' and his impressions reach a pinnacle of fascination and disgust in Corfu, where surrounded by 'a large assortment of pompous ruffians, splendid savages, grubby finery, wild costume, long matted hair, dark complexions and noisy shopkeepers, all styed in filth', he pulls out his sketchbook, and is 'immediately surrounded by the whole market; I never saw such an assemblage of deliciously villainous faces, they grinned, glowered, and exhibited every variety of curiosity. Oh such expression on such heads! is enough to turn the brain of an Artist'. Scornful of Patras and disappointed by Delphi, he finds Greece 'exquisitely beautiful', but generally 'an unhappy country'. In both Italy and Greece he refers derisively to the Roman Catholic or Orthodox rites. Poignantly in view of the tragedy of the following year, Dadd concludes by asking Roberts to call on his father to tell him that he is well and will write from Smyrna or Constantinople. Dadd returned to England in May 1843, his behaviour by now often bizarre and giving way to the suspicions and paranoid delusions foreshadowed in the present letter. On 28 August 1843 he stabbed his father in Cobham Park, believing that he was the devil. He fled to France but was brought back to England and committed to the Royal Bethlem Hospital, then the state asylum for the criminally insane. In his youth among the most gifted of his circle and popular for his gentle nature and intelligence, he continued to paint in confinement, and the two fairy paintings for which he is now best known ( Fairy Feller's Master-stroke and Contradiction: Oberon and Titania ) were completed in the asylum. One of the sketchbooks meticulously recording his travels is in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Auction archive: Lot number 166
Auction:
Datum:
2 Jun 1999
Auction house:
Christie's
London, King Street
Try LotSearch

Try LotSearch and its premium features for 7 days - without any costs!

  • Search lots and bid
  • Price database and artist analysis
  • Alerts for your searches
Create an alert now!

Be notified automatically about new items in upcoming auctions.

Create an alert