Richard Dadd - At Bethlehem

AT BETHLEHEM, NEAR THE GREEK CONVENT OF THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST
inscribed l.c.: At Bethlehem near the Greek Convent of the Nativity of Christ.
watercolour with bodycolour
19 by 14.2cm.; 7½ by 5¾in.

'This delicate little watercolour loses much of its character without the sunlit golden browns and pale ochre of itspredominant colours or without the very fine drawing and stippling with the point of the brush which can be seen only in the original.' PATRICIA ALLDERIDGE, THE LATE RICHARD DADD, 1974

Richard Dadd's journey to the Holy Land began on 16 July 1842 when he and the Welsh solicitor Sir Thomas Phillips crossed to Ostend. Phillips (1801-1867), knighted for his quelling of the Chartist uprising on 1839 was by 1842 in his early forties and on the brink of settling down as a barrister but wanted to make a extended grand tour
before doing so. He resolved to take a young artist with him to record their adventures and the great painter of Middle Eastern subjects David Roberts recommended Dadd for 'the knowledge that the young artist's powers as a draughtsman, and his amiable qualities as a man, would render him as charming in companionship as he would be efficient as an artist.' (Patricia Allderidge, The Late Richard Dadd 1817-1886, exhibition catalogue for Tate Gallery, 1974, p.18) The journey would have 'knocked out any but the strongest constitution by the halfway point' (op.cit)
and it was to affect Dadd in a profound, inspiring and psychologically disturbing way; he began to suffer from the paranoia that would lead him to murder his own father and ultimately result in him being incarcerated in hospitals for the insane for the rest of his life.

Dadd and Phillips visited Bethlehem on 22 November 1842 with a party of officers from Vernon, Beacon and Hecate, in the course of a rushed two-day round tour of Jerusalem, via Jericho and the Wilderness of Engaddi. As Patricia Allderidge has pointed out regarding the present watercolour drawing; 'There could scarcely have been much time for sketching, and it is likely that this watercolour, with its very fine and delicate detail, was worked up later, probably in Bethlem Hospital.' (ibid Allderidge, p.79) A similar watercolour, of the Minaret of the Great Mosque, Damascus is dated 1842 but was also probably painted from sketches at a later date as Dadd himself wrote of his difficulties in painting in the street where the interruptions of the locals made working on anything other than rapid sketches almost impossible.

After the murder and Dadd's admission to Bethlem Phillips requested and was granted Dadd's sketchbooks, in leiu of the watercolours that would otherwise have been made for him. A well-known sketchbook now in the Victoria and Albert Museum was certainly owned by Phillips but another, smaller book is known to have existed and was seen
by a visitor to the hospital in May 1845, but is now lost. It is likely that this lost book contained the sketches that Dadd used for At Bethlehem, Near the Greek Convent of the Nativity of Christ. In his locked cell, deprived of colour, light and intellectual companionship Dadd found solace in his recollections of his travels and they were a constant source of inspiration during Dadd's time at Bethlem hospital and he returned to them again and again even for the last known drawing that he made at Broadmoor. He also had a phenomenal memory and was able to bring sights
that he had seen years earlier into his mind with great clarity. His mental disorder may even have been beneficial to his work, giving his pictures a perception and intensity that sane artists may have shied away from. In the present
picture, there is a mood of tension with some of the figures suggestive of disquiet such as the woman in the centre of the composition who stares out as she stands motionless in the street with her hand raised to her mouth and the hooded figure on the left who turns as he enters a doorway to look out of the picture. The eye is led through the composition to a guard mounted on a camel wealding a long decorated spear, who appears to be confronting a crowd in the narrow alleyway beyond. In the foreground three men converse, one of whom (dressed in a short tunic and blue turban) bears a strong resemblance to Dadd. In 1845 the Art Union stated that Dadd had recently been making drawings in a small sketchbook that he had with him at Bethlam of scenes recalled from his Middle Eastern travels which show 'all the power, fancy and judgement' of his earlier work. It is now believed that the painting The Artist's Halt in the Desert (made famous by its discovery on BBC's Antiques Roadshow and now at the British Museum, Collection of Prints and Drawings) was made at this time. At Bethlehem, Near the Greek Convent of the Nativity of Christ was almost certainly contemporary.

The technical dexterity of At Bethlehem, Near the Greek Convent of the Nativity of Christ is remarkable especially considering the circumstances in which it was painted. As Patricia Allderidge has noted of this picture; 'The Street scene, deceptively simple at first glance, is composed as usual with great care. The arrangement of the figures along the right-hand side of the street, parallels a diagonal line which is made up by the tops of the walls and other features: the central figure on horseback forms the apex of the triangle, which is completed by the opposing diagonal of figures and shadows on the left. One of Dadd's favourite devices, of exactly repeating the same line throughout the smaller details, can be seen here, for example, in the leg of the man on the extreme left, a pole supporting a roof near the centre, the lance of the man on horseback, the leg and arm of the hooded figure, and the flowing headdress of the seated man on the right. The soft golden browns also echo and reflect each other across the picture.' (Patricia Allderidge, The Late Richard Dadd 1817-1886, exhibition catalogue for Tate Gallery, 1974, pp.79-80)

The present picture was owned by the Dadd scholar and director of Sotheby's John Rickett who wrote an important article 'Rd Dadd, Bethlem and Broadmorr' in 1964. He owned several important oil paintings by Dadd, including Come unto these Golden Sands (present whereabouts unknown) and Puck (offered in these rooms, 19 November
2008, lot 104).