Credit: ©The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.19606

    Portrait of George Villers, 1st Duke of Buckingham

    Date
    1757
    Sitter
    George Villers, 1st Duke of Buckingham (1592 - 1628, British) , Courtier
    Creator
    William Walker (1724 - 1793, British) , Engraver
    Object type
    Archive reference number
    Material
    Technique
    Dimensions
    height (print): 100mm
    width (print): 100mm
    Subject
    Description
    Head and shoulders study of the Duke of Buckingham, in a circular framing device. The sitter is half-turned to the right as viewed, face turned directly to the viewer. Buckingham wears a ruff collar and natural hair, with a moustache.

    Plate from a grangerized copy of A history of the Royal Society, with memoirs of the Presidents…by Charles Richard Weld (London, John W. Parker, 1848). In this edition, the original two volumes were extended to eight volumes with the addition of extra-illustrations and documents, by Alexander Meyrick Broadley.

    The engraving appears at p.17, as Weld’s text discusses the attempt to create a Royal Academy: ‘In 1616 or 1617, a scheme for founding a Royal Academy in England was started by Edmund Bolton…The Marquis of Buckingham also spoke of it in Parliament, where the design was favourably received by many of the Lords…’.

    Inscribed below: ‘VILLERS DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. Walker sculp.’.

    George Villers, 1st Duke of Buckingham (1592-1628), British courtier, royal favourite and Admiral.
    Object history
    Print from Charles Richard Weld's A history of the Royal Society, vol. 1... (London, John W. Parker, 1848) grangerized by the writer and collector Alexander Meyrick Broadley (1847–1916) into 8 volumes, adding illustrative material and manuscript items to Weld's text. The books were initially owned by Ludwig Mond FRS (1839–1909), and according to an inscription by his son Robert Ludwig Mond FRS (1867–1938) they were intended for presentation to the Society. This eventually happened in late 1959, the donor being the politician Harry Nathan (1889–1963), Lord Nathan of Churt.
    Related fellows
    Charles Richard Weld (1813 - 1869, British) , Author
    Associated place
    <The World>
       > Europe
          > United Kingdom
    Powered by CollectionsIndex+/CollectionsOnline