Dadd began painting and drawing again soon after his admission to Bethlem Hospital in 1844, but his series of 'Sketches to Illustrate the Passions’ began only when he had already been incarcerated for nine years. About thirty are known to have survived, mainly dating from 1853 and 1854, with isolated examples up to 1857. Most take the form of a dramatic scene or ‘sketch’, with figures dominating the front of the picture as if on a shallow stage. Only a few of the earliest subjects seem to come directly from literary sources, generally from Shakespeare, but many are literary or historical in character. Others show scenes from everyday life. Visually these pictures are indistinguishable from other watercolours which he painted around this time: the titles alone indicate which are included in the series and which are not. There is no evidence as to why he chose this theme, or whether it might have been suggested to him by one of the hospital’s staff. He would probably have been aware of theories associating the passions with insanity, but they were also a traditional subject for poetry and painting. Hatred, one of the earliest in the series, shows a scene from Shakespeare’s Henry VI Part 3. It is inscribed Murder of Henry 6th by Richard Duke of Gloster See how my sword weeps the poor king’s death. Dadd had stabbed his father to death in a chillingly premeditated act. It is hard to believe there is no element of reminiscence in this picture: or that the choice to portray a murderer named Richard was made for artistic reasons alone. It was clearly a subject which he relished. Another version has also survived, now in the collection of the Wellcome Institute.