Richard "Dickie" Doyle (18 September 1824 – 10 December 1883) was a British illustrator of the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

. His work frequently appeared, amongst other places, in ''

Punch magazine ''Punch, or The London Charivari'' was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and wood-engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 1850s, when it helped to coin ...

''; he drew the cover of the first issue, and designed the magazine's masthead, a design that was used for over a century.

Biography

Born at 17 Cambridge Terrace, London, one of seven children of

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...

ist John Doyle (known as 'H.B'), a noted political caricaturist, Doyle had three brothers,

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

and Henry Edward Doyle, who were also artists. The young Doyle had no formal art training other than his father's studio, but from an early age displayed a gifted ability to depict scenes of the fantastic and grotesque. Throughout his life he was fascinated by fairy tales. He produced his first complete illustrated book, ''Home for the Holidays'', when he was twelve; it was published posthumously in 1887. He joined the staff of ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

'' in 1843 aged 19, remaining there for seven years. He was the uncle of

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for '' A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

, author of the

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

stories.

Career

Doyle's first published illustrations appeared in ''The Eglinton Tournament'' (1840), a humour book set in the Middle Ages, which met with commercial success. Doyle collaborated with John Leech, W. C. Stanfield and other artists to co-illustrate three

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

Christmas books, ''

The Chimes ''The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year In'', commonly referred to as ''The Chimes'', is a novella written by Charles Dickens and first published in 1844, one year after ''A Christmas Carol''. It is th ...

'' (1844), ''

The Cricket on the Hearth ''The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home'' is a novella by Charles Dickens, published by Bradbury and Evans, and released 20 December 1845 with illustrations by Daniel Maclise, John Leech, Richard Doyle, Clarkson Stanfield and Edwin H ...

'' (1845) and ''

The Battle of Life ''The Battle of Life: A Love Story'' is an 1846 novel by Charles Dickens. It is the fourth of his five "Christmas Books", coming after ''The Cricket on the Hearth'' and followed by ''The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain''. The setting is an ...

'' (1846). In 1846 Doyle's illustrations for ''The Fairy Ring'' (a new translation of Grimm's tales), first made his name as a fairytale illustrator. Following this in 1849 he produced ''Fairy Tales from All Nations'' (compiled by '

Anthony R. Montalba Anthony Rubens Montalba (1812–24 July 1884) was a Swedish-born, naturalised British painter and the head of a family of renowned artists that based itself in Venice in the later part of the nineteenth-century. He may be known best as the editor ...

', which proved a tremendous success. Doyle was able to fully explore his love of fairy mythology with his many illustrations and borders filled with elves, pixies and other mythical creatures. Following this success Doyle illustrated a string of fantasy titles: ''The Enchanted Doll'' by

Mark Lemon Mark Lemon (30 November 1809, in London – 23 May 1870, in Crawley) was the founding editor of both ''Punch'' and '' The Field''. He was also a writer of plays and verses. Biography Lemon was born in Marylebone, Westminster, Middlesex, ...

(1849), ''The Story of Jack and the Giants'' (1850), and

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and politi ...

's ''

The King of the Golden River ''The King of the Golden River or The Black Brothers: A Legend of Stiria'' is a fantasy story originally written in 1841 by John Ruskin for the twelve-year-old Effie (Euphemia) Gray, whom Ruskin later married. It was published in book form in ...

'' (1850), which went through three editions in its first year of publication. Edward Ellice was a serial host for notable visitors to Scotland. In 1859 Doyle was invited and

Katherine Ellice Katherine Jane "Janie" Ellice (née Balfour; 1813 – 13 April 1864) was a British diarist and artist. She is most remembered for her chronicle and watercolours of a trip to Canada, in 1838, where she and her sister were taken prisoner during th ...

, an amateur artist, served as host when he visited. Katherine was given an illustrated diary of a journey to the islands of Rona and Skye and this is extant. He also wrote for ''Punch'' a series of articles entitled ''Manners and Customes of ye Englyshe''. A devout

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, he resigned his position on the staff of ''Punch'' in 1850 in response to its hostility to what was termed "papal aggression", and spent the remainder of his career in preparing drawings for book illustration and to painting in watercolour. Doyle published works of his own, which helped establish his reputation with a large readership: ''Manners and Customs of Ye Englishe'' (1849) and ''Bird's Eye View of Society'' (1864). His chief series of illustrations were those for ''

The Newcomes ''The Newcomes: Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family'' is a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, first published in 1854 and 1855. Publication ''The Newcomes'' was published serially over about two years, as Thackeray himself says in one of t ...

'', ''The King of the Golden River'', and ''The Foreign Tour of Brown, Jones and Robinson''. In 1844, Doyle designed the cover of Punch's sixth issue. It became the basis of the magazine's masthead until 1954, and was based on

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...

's "

Bacchus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; grc, wikt:Διόνυσος, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstas ...

and

Ariadne Ariadne (; grc-gre, Ἀριάδνη; la, Ariadne) was a Cretan princess in Greek mythology. She was mostly associated with mazes and labyrinths because of her involvement in the myths of the Minotaur and Theseus. She is best known for having ...

". His masterpiece is indubitably ''In Fairyland, a series of Pictures from the Elf World'', with a poem by

William Allingham William Allingham (19 March 1824 – 18 November 1889) was an Irish poet, diarist and editor. He wrote several volumes of lyric verse, and his poem "The Faeries" was much anthologised. But he is better known for his posthumously published ''Dia ...

, printed by

Edmund Evans Edmund Evans (23 February 1826 – 21 August 1905) was an English wood-engraver and colour printer during the Victorian era. He specialized in full-colour printing, a technique which, in part because of his work, became popular in the mid-19th c ...

and published by

Longman Longman, also known as Pearson Longman, is a publishing company founded in London, England, in 1724 and is owned by Pearson PLC. Since 1968, Longman has been used primarily as an imprint by Pearson's Schools business. The Longman brand is also ...

in time for Christmas 1869 (dated 1870). In the 16 colour plates and 36 line illustrations plus title page, Doyle was given a completely free hand. The folio was richly bound in green cloth, and has been described as one of the finest examples of Victorian book production (Richard Dalby, ''The Golden Age of Children's Book Illustration'', 1991 p. 12). The illustrations were used in the publication of another book as well, ''The Princess Nobody'' by Andrew Lang (1884). Doyle was generally regarded as being brilliant but unreliable. For example, he was consistently late with his illustrations for ''

'', only meeting his commitments when

Thackeray William Makepeace Thackeray (; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was a British novelist, author and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel '' Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portrait of British society, and t ...

threatened to give the work to another artist. Doyle's excuses were often ridiculous, and the

Dalziel brothers The Brothers Dalziel (pronounced ) was a prolific wood-engraving business in Victorian London, founded in 1839 by George Dalziel. The Dalziel family In 1840, George (1 December 1815 – 4 August 1902) was joined in the business by his brother E ...

reported that on one occasion he failed to meet a deadline because he had 'not got any pencils'. Such amateurism hampered Doyle's success. Several books he had been commissioned to illustrate did not appear because he lacked the application needed to finish them, and completed work was often uneven in quality and 'deplorably pedestrian'.Muir, Percy ''Victorian Illustrated Books'' London: Batsford, 1971; revised ed., (1985) pg 102 Doyle signed many of his drawings with the depiction of a small bird standing on the initials 'RD', a reference to his nickname "Dickie" (as in "dickie bird").

Gallery

File:Punch magazine cover 1916 april 26 volume 150 no 3903.png, Doyle's design for the cover of ''

'' showing his monogram of a "dickie bird" perched on the initials 'RD' (lower left) File:Richard-doyle-birdie.png, Doyle's monogram of a "dickie bird" perched on the initials 'RD' File:An elf and a fairy kissing - In Fairy Land (1870) - BL.jpg, An elf and a fairy kissing, from ''In Fairy Land'' (1870) File:Richard Doyle - Spurned Suitor.jpg, The prince thanking the Water Fairy, image from ''

Princess Nobody Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subst ...

'' (1884), illustrated by Doyle, engraved and coloured by

File:Poor little birdie teased by Richard Doyle.jpg, ''Poor little birdie teased'', illustrated by Doyle, engraved and coloured by

File:Richard Doyle - Fairy Rings and Toadstools.jpg, ''Fairy Rings and Toadstools'' (1875) File:Under the Dock Leaves.png, ''Under the Dock Leaves: An Autumnal Evening Dream'' (1878) File:Manners and customs of ye Englyshe - P7a.jpg, "Manners and Cvstoms" from the illustrated work ''Manners and customs of ye Englyshe''

References

External links

Detailed biography on Victorianweb

Works by Richard Doyle
in the

University of Florida Digital Collections The University of Florida Digital Collections (UFDC) are supported by the University of Florida Digital Library Center in the George A. Smathers Libraries at the University of Florida. The University of Florida Digital Collections (UFDC) comprise a ...

includin
''Princess Nobody''
* *
''Fairy tales from all nations'', illus. Richard Doyle
* '' Manners and customs of ye Englyshe'' by Percival Leigh and illustrated by Doyle * * Grant F. Scott, ed. ''The Illustrated Letters of Richard Doyle to His Father, 1842-1843'' (Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2016). https://www.ohioswallow.com/book/9780821421857 {{DEFAULTSORT:Doyle (illustrator), Richard 1824 births 1883 deaths English illustrators British speculative fiction artists 19th-century English painters English male painters English watercolourists Fantasy artists Punch (magazine) cartoonists 19th-century illustrators of fairy tales British Roman Catholics English people of Irish descent

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

19th-century English male artists