Richard Buckner

Richard Buckner (1812–1883) of Cleveland Row in St James's, London was an English painter best known for his prolific portraiture, particularly of Victorian society ladies (1840–1877).

Early life Richard Buckner was born in Woolwich in 1812, son of Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Buckner (1772–1837) and Mary Marsh Pierce (ca. 1778 – 1852). In 1812, Colonel Buckner was on assignment at the Woolwich arsenal with the Royal Regiment of Artillery, but the main family home was Whyke House, Rumboldswhyke, Chichester where Buckner was raised.

Buckner showed an interest in art growing up, establishing his own painting studio at home where he experimented with limning. In 1831, Buckner was granted a commission in the British Army with the 60th Regiment of Foot, which was achieved by purchase the following year. In 1837, his father died and by 1840, Buckner had left the Army and had moved to Rome, where he studied painting under Giovanni Battista Cassevari. When in Rome, Buckner painted Italian figurative subjects, the best of which were exhibited at the British Institution and when in England, he painted commissioned portraits, which were exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts and the Society of British Artists. That same visibility attracted the patronage of many important and wealthy clients including Queen Victoria, the Prince of Wales, and the Duke of Hamilton. Many of the reviews of the time offered both high praise and none. The more expansive critiques pointed to Buckner's work as being "too sentimental" or just too large, and for using "unnaturally vivid colours", the same criticisms levelled at the Pre-Raphaelites from the same institutions expressing similar reservations about membership. The Victorian art elite accused him of selling out to fashion and commercialisation. Bad reviews did little to dent Buckner's popularity, despite being described as both "cheap" and tawdry. The prices he commanded were not cheap however. (Buckner's commission book includes a financial summary from 1842–3 to 1874–5 with fees totalling £67,249.) In 1875, he was commissioned to execute a painting at a price of 500 guineas. Following Buckner's death in 1883, a society columnist wrote:

"Of late years one had seen but little of his work in exhibitions or of the painter in society, where at one time he was often beheld, a dainty jaunty little gentleman, much be-ringed and be-ringletted, and with a sweet smile for everybody"

Buckner's commission book lists 989 works over his professional career from 1840 to 1877, with a small number of commissions not executed. His portraits hung in royal and stately homes alongside Holbeins and Gainsboroughs, where some still hang today, including National Trust properties, as well as the National Portrait Gallery, London, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the British Museum. His work continues to attract the interest of art critics and public alike.

Gallery Only five of the illustrations in this gallery are known to have been exhibited.

Italian figures

Victorian ladies

Victorian men

Notes and references