Buck, Frederick - portrait of a man

Although this miniature is unsigned, it appears to be painted in the distinctive style of Frederick Buck (1771-1840) of, Cork, Ireland.

Daphne Foskett comments; "During the Peninuslar War, when Cork was a busy port of embarkation, his services were in great demand to paint portraits of officers. In order to keep pace with demand, he kept a supply of painted ivories to which he added the heads and regimental facings as required."

and "His work is not as good as his brother Adam Buck and the features are often badly drawn and modelled; he used a rather hot colouring which looks hard and reflects the haste with which he so often painted. He sometimes painted cloudy sky backgrounds on the reverse of the ivory which he left blank on the front."

The design of the reverse of the case, is often found on Irish miniatures and this form of case design made its way across the Atlantic with Irish artists who emigrated to the United States.

However, a kind visitor has also suggested that another potential artist for the miniature may instead be by Henry Kirchhoffer (1781-1860) who was also from Ireland and painted in a somewhat similar style, although he was a little more original than the "cookie-cutter" style of Frederick Buck.

In the meantime, both names are offered for any further comment.

The reverse has the initials of the sitter "E J" in filigree gold, but otherwise the sitter is unknown. 644