Artist/Maker: Richard 'Dicky' Doyle - Aberystwyth University School of Art Museums and Galleries

Illustrator and painter. Son of political cartoonist John Doyle, known as ‘HB’. Fascinated by fairy tales from an early age and displayed gifted artistic ability to depict such scenes, despite receiving no formal artistic education. He illustrated his first book, ‘Home for the Holidays’ aged 12, which was published posthumously in 1887. Began his career in 1840 making humorous illustrations for The Eglinton Tournament. Supplied illustrations for Punch magazine 1843-50 and also wrote a series of articles. He then found work in book illustration, collaborating with other artists for various Charles Dickens novels, and illustrating the Grimm’s Tale ‘The Fairy Ring’ (1846). From this he established his name as a fairy tale illustrator and worked on many other successful fantasy titles. In 1869-70 he produced ‘In Fairyland, a Series of Pictures for the Elf World’ for a poem by William Allingham (1824-89). This is regarded as his masterpiece. Although he was highly skilled, he was also considered unreliable and known for making quite ridiculous excuses for missing deadlines, which did hinder his success