{"id":422,"date":"2015-09-24T14:02:11","date_gmt":"2015-09-24T14:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/?p=422"},"modified":"2025-02-26T13:22:05","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T13:22:05","slug":"deaths-doings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/2015\/09\/24\/deaths-doings\/","title":{"rendered":"Death\u2019s Doings"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"In<\/a>

In spite of all the Hypochondriac\u2019s attempts to keep sickness at bay, Death comes whizzing down the chimney in the form of a skeletal spider. The Hypochondriac\u2019s cat remains unmoved. Richard Dagley, ‘Death\u2019s Doings’, (London, 1827), pl. opp. p. 150<\/p><\/div>\n

While working on some book moves we are presently carrying out, I rediscovered the rather wonderful Death\u2019s Doings <\/em>illustrated by Richard Dagley, first published in 1822. This volume belongs to a long tradition on the Dance of Death theme, which dates back to medieval times, when death from war and violence, disease, poverty, childhood mortality and so on was an ever-present threat and people were all-too-familiar with the sight of a corpse. Sometimes the message given out by frescoes and drawings in this tradition seems to be that Death is the great leveller so you may as well enjoy yourself while you can, and sometimes it is an injunction to live a good life avoiding vices such as drunkenness and gluttony \u2013 or Death will seize you all the sooner. But all share the same macabre humour.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Very little has been written about Dagley, but 2 obituaries for him appeared in 1841 in The Art-Union <\/em>and The Gentleman\u2019s Magazine*<\/em>, the first of these a lengthy tribute by Mrs B. Hofland of Hammersmith, who writes that she was a close friend of the artist and his family for 32 years. Death\u2019s Doings<\/em>, she tells us, was \u2018suggested by Holbein\u2019s Dance of Death<\/em>\u2019. First published in 1538 as Les Simulachres & histori\u00e9es faces de la Mort, <\/em>this hugely successful work made Hans Holbein the Younger\u2019s name. Holbein\u2019s genius was to portray a series of people from all walks of life – the King and Queen, even the Pope, but also the Pedlar, the<\/p>\n

<\/a>

Dagley\u2019s Miser scrabbles to dig up the treasure he has hidden beneath a tree \u2013 but Death has already claimed the bag of gold, which he holds up triumphantly. Richard Dagley, ‘Death\u2019s Doings’, (London, 1827), pl. opp. p. 335<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Death<\/a>

Death helps himself to handfuls of the Miser\u2019s gold. Hans Holbein, 1497-1543, ‘The Dance of Death’, (New York, 1971), p. 133, 709.43092 HOL<\/p><\/div>\n

Ploughman and the Miser (shown here) \u2013 all summoned by Death in the midst of their usual daily activities. Dagley uses the same device, but his humour has a light touch and the scenes are very much of the 19th<\/sup> rather than the 16th<\/sup> century. So, like Holbein, he portrays the Miser, but we also have the Cricketer, the Boxer and the Angler. Dagley\u2019s Death, rather than being simply a menacing phantom, is very definitely a \u2018character\u2019. His limbs are so flexible and rounded as almost to suggest they are flesh-clad, with glee he adopts a variety of contemporary costumes and accessories, his features compose themselves into a whole range of expressions.<\/p>\n

Mrs Hofland writes that Dagley, along with his two brothers, was orphaned very young and placed in Christ\u2019s Hospital. \u2018Having a decided taste for fine art and being a delicate child\u2019, he was then apprenticed to<\/p>\n

\"Death<\/a>

Death is not only about to bowl to the hapless Cricketer, but he also seems to be deciding on the field placings. Richard Dagley, ‘Death\u2019s Doings’, (London, 1827), pl. opp. p. 69<\/p><\/div>\n

a jeweller and watchmaker called Cousins, where for a time he made a secure living enamelling miniature scenes. He also married one of Cousins\u2019 daughters before he was \u2018of age\u2019, perhaps not the most level-headed decision by her father, as Dagley clearly was in no position to provide comfortably for a family.<\/p>\n

\"Death<\/a>

Death lurks behind the Angler\u2019s shoulder, seemingly about to trap him in a fishing net. Richard Dagley, ‘Death\u2019s Doings’, (London, 1827), pl. opp. p. 391<\/p><\/div>\n

When miniatures in jewellery and watches went out of fashion, he was forced to seek employment elsewhere, as a drawing master at a school in Doncaster. Unfortunately the proprietress seems to have<\/p>\n

\"Death<\/a>

Death takes on all comers in the ring. The Champion from: Richard Dagley, ‘Death\u2019s Doings’, (London, 1827), pl. opp. p. 203<\/p><\/div>\n

lacked any business acumen, the venture ended in financial disaster and Dagley returned to London. In fact, Mrs Hofland paints a positively Dickensian picture of the family circumstances: Dagley a man of \u2018fine taste and unremitting industry\u2019, Mrs Dagley a woman \u2018whom to know was to love\u2019, clearly devoted to each other, the 10 children of their union all dead in infancy barring one daughter, \u2018long seasons of anxiety and painful prospects of poverty \u2026 hover[ing] like demons o\u2019er the dwelling\u2019. Like many of his fellow artists, Dagley died virtually destitute \u2013 \u2018(aged and shadowy as he was) [he] walk[ed] miles and miles, taxing mind and means to their utmost\u2019 to support his family and assist his friends and neighbours.<\/p>\n

As well as being an engraver, Dagley was an accomplished water-<\/p>\n

\"Would<\/a>

Would you entrust your baby to this nurse? The Mother from: Richard Dagley, ‘Death\u2019s Doings’, (London, 1827), pl. opp. p. 137<\/p><\/div>\n

colour painter, exhibiting at the Royal Academy over a period of 40 years (mainly domestic scenes) and at the British Institution. He wrote many reviews of works of art and two books on gems. Along with Takings; Or, The Life Of A Collegian<\/em>, illustrations to a humorous poem by Thomas Gaspey, published in 1821, Death\u2019s Doings<\/em> was his most successful work and the one for which he is best remembered.<\/p>\n

*The Art-Union<\/em>, Vol. III, 15 May 1841, pp. 86-7, PER 700 A8234 & The Gentleman\u2019s Magazine<\/em>, Vol. 15, June 1841, pp. 664-5, PER050 G3044<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While working on some book moves we are presently carrying out, I rediscovered the rather wonderful Death\u2019s Doings illustrated by Richard Dagley, first published in 1822. This volume belongs to a long tradition on the Dance of Death theme, which dates back to medieval times, when death from war and violence, disease, poverty, childhood mortality […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":430,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[33,31,4],"class_list":["post-422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-death","tag-nineteenth-century","tag-rare-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":448,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422\/revisions\/448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}