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 reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

. His work frequently appeared, amongst other places, in '' Punch magazine''; 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

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...

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

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 ''* ...

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'' in 1843 aged 19, remaining there for seven years. He was the uncle of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...

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 novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

Christmas books, '' The Chimes'' (1844), '' The Cricket on the Hearth'' (1845) and '' The Battle of Life'' (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', 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 (magazine), Punch'' and ''The Field (magazine), The Field''. He was also a writer of Play (theatre), plays and verses. Biography ...

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

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English polymath a writer, lecturer, art historian, art critic, draughtsman and philanthropist of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as art, architecture, Critique of politic ...

's '' The King of the Golden River'' (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, 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 The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, 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 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 Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...

's "

Bacchus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ) by the Gre ...

and

Ariadne In Greek mythology, Ariadne (; ; ) was a Cretan princess, the daughter of King Minos of Crete. There are variations of Ariadne's myth, but she is known for helping Theseus escape from the Minotaur and being abandoned by him on the island of N ...

". 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 ''Di ...

, printed by Edmund Evans and published by

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

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 Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a folkloristics, collector of folklore, folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectur ...

(1884). Doyle was generally regarded as being brilliant but unreliable. For example, he was consistently late with his illustrations for '' The Newcomes'', only meeting his commitments when Thackeray threatened to give the work to another artist. Doyle's excuses were often ridiculous, and the Dalziel brothers 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 '' Punch'' 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'' (1884), illustrated by Doyle, engraved and coloured by Edmund Evans File:Poor little birdie teased by Richard Doyle.jpg, ''Poor little birdie teased'', illustrated by Doyle, engraved and coloured by Edmund Evans 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'' File:Planche-Doyle-Dalziel-SleepyPairOfLovers.tif, alt=Page from An old fairy tale : the sleeping beauty (1868) featuring illustration by Richard Doyle, as engraved and printed by the Dalziel Brothers., Page from ''An old fairy tale : the sleeping beauty'' (1868) featuring illustration by Richard Doyle, as engraved by the Dalziel Brothers.

References

External links

Detailed biography on Victorianweb

Works by Richard Doyle
in the University of Florida Digital Collections 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 children's book illustrators 19th-century English painters English male painters English watercolourists British fantasy artists English speculative fiction artists Punch (magazine) cartoonists Illustrators of fairy tales 19th-century British illustrators English Roman Catholics English people of Irish descent

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

19th-century English male artists