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The enduring myth of the mad genius

There’s a fine line to tread between creativity and psychosis.

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Images

  • Two Commedia dell'arte street musicians performing together. Etching by J. Callot.
  • A street performer accompanied by two musicians. Gouache painting by an Indian artist.
  • A troupe of blind musicians and their dogs confronting a rival street musician and his dog. Lithograph by Engelmann after S. Baptiste, 1828.
  • India: a street conjuror with his musicians, putting a man inside a net and a wicker basket. Photograph, ca. 1900.
  • Nithsdale, Scotland: people gather in a village street to watch as musicians play and others dance. Etching by W. Richardson after D.O. Hill.
  • Above, a family of street musicians playing the guitar, the triangle and the fiddle; below, five men in military uniforms at table, with a servant bringing in a roast pig. Etching by Ferdinand, King of Portugal, 1844.
  • The enraged musician: a street crowd with a ballad singer is creating such a noise that the musician in the window has to put his hands over his ears. Engraving by W. Hogarth, 1741.
  • Street scene with musician playing a saurinda, a type of violin, Calcutta, West Bengal. Coloured etching by François Balthazar Solvyns, 1799.
  • The enraged musician: a street crowd with a ballad singer is creating such a noise that the musician in the window has to put his hands over his ears. Engraving by J. June after W. Hogarth.
  • An organ-grinder is carrying a very large organ down the street as he passes a fellow musician with a much smaller instrument and a monkey; representing evolution by natural selection. Wood engraving after G. Du Maurier.
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