‘Pruning a genius’: marginalia by Richard Dadd

2020 ◽  
pp. 0957154X2097834
Author(s):  
Nicholas Tromans

After falling into mental illness as a young man, the British artist Richard Dadd (1817–86) spent some 20 years as a patient at Bethlem Hospital in London. A rare example of his writings from these years survives in the form of marginalia in a copy of Lectures on Painting and Design by Benjamin Robert Haydon, held in the Morgan Library & Museum in New York. This article presents a transcription of the notes, along with an introduction setting them in the contexts of Dadd’s career and his relationship with the senior staff at Bethlem.

Author(s):  
Shelli B. Rossman ◽  
Janeen Buck Willison ◽  
Kamala Mallik-Kane ◽  
KiDeuk Kim ◽  
Sara Debus-Sherrill ◽  
...  

Mediaevistik ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 284-284
Author(s):  
Albrecht Classen

This wonderfully illustrated book accompanied an exhibition that took place at the Morgan Library & Museum, New York, from June 8 to September 23, 2018, authored by two well established and respected art historian*s, who provide us with a sweeping view of the world of monsters and many other related creatures in medieval fantasy. While previous research mostly focused on monsters in the narrow sense of the word, i.e., grotesque and oversized human-like creatures normally threatening ordinary people in their existence, Lindquist and Mittman pursue a much broader perspective and incorporate also many other features in human imagination, including wonders, aliens, Jews, Muslims, strangers in general, the femme fatale, sirens, undines, mermaids (but there is no reference to the Melusine figure, though she would fit much better into the general framework), devils, and evil spirits. However, I do not understand why ‘gargoyles’ have been left out here. This vast approach allows them also to address the beasts from the Physiologus tradition, then natural wonders, giants, and then, quite surprisingly, religious scenes in psalters (148), depictions of nobles playing chess (150; where are the wild men alleged surrounding the players?), the whore of Babylon (153), figures from the Apocalypse, and anything else that smacks of wonder.


1978 ◽  
Vol 23 (7) ◽  
pp. 469-477
Author(s):  
Cyril Greenland ◽  
John D. Griffin

Although there have been many studies of the trial of Louis Riel, following the 1885 rebellion, much less attention has been paid to the fate of his secretary William Henry Jackson, who was charged with “treason-felony” and found not guilty, reason of insanity. In an effort to throw some new light on this neglected aspect of medico-legal history, this paper describes the intense political and religious relationship between Riel and his secretary which culminated in the onset of Jackson's mental illness. After a trial lasting less than half an hour, Jackson was committed to the “Selkirk Asylum” under a warrant of the then Lieutenant-Governor. Two weeks before Riel was executed, Jackson escaped from hospital and made his way into the U.S.A. No attempt was made to capture him. Jackson, having changed his name to Honoré Jaxon, became a labour organizer. He died in the psychopathic ward of Bellevue Hospital in New York on 10th January, 1952 at the age of ninety.


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