British artist and
illustrator (
1860-
1908), born in
London and
middle brother of three artists. He is known mostly for his
illustrations of the stories about
Sherlock Holmes
that ran in
The Strand. The
commision to do the
illustrations was
originally intended for his younger brother
Walter, who had done '
Treasure Island' and '
Robinson Crusoe',
but due to a
mix-up Sidney ended up with it and in return used his
brother as a
model for Holmes.
Starting 1891, he did 'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 'The
Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes', 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' and
'The Return of Sherlock Holmes', all in all 357 sketches. He is
considered the most influential illustrator of the Canon, although
Doyle himself whas not entirely happy with
Paget, who he felt took to many artistic liberties with the characters
(for example, Holmes' most distinguishing feature, the deerstalker
was purely the invention of Paget and was never mentioned in the text).