William Buckland
(1784-1856), GeologistEarly Victorian Portraits Catalogue Entry
Sitter associated with 9 portraits
Buckland's interest in natural history was aroused as a boy exploring the quarries and woods of his native Devon. He was elected a fellow of Oxford University in 1808 and was ordained a priest, continuing to pursue his interest in minerals and geology. Appointed Reader in Mineralogy in 1813 and in Geology in 1818 at Oxford, his lectures were the most popular in the university. He was initially a proponent of flood geology, a creationist theory that assumed the literal truth of the story of Noah's Ark. A global flood and its aftermath were seen as the origin of most of the Earth's geological features. However, he abandoned this belief in his highly influential work, the Bridgewater Treatise (1836).
by Thomas Phillips
oil on canvas, 1800-1825
NPG 1275
by William Brockedon
black and red chalk, 1838
NPG 2515(87)
by Elkington & Co, after Henry Weekes
electrotype of bust, 1869, based on a work of 1858
On display at Lyme Regis Museum, Lyme Regis
NPG 255
after Unknown artist
mezzotint, 19th century
NPG D900
by George Rowe, printed by Charles Joseph Hullmandel
lithograph, 1823
NPG D7669
by Samuel Cousins, after Thomas Phillips
mezzotint, published 1833 (1832)
NPG D32312
by Thomas Herbert Maguire
lithograph, 1849
NPG D32310
by Thomas Herbert Maguire
lithograph, 1849
NPG D32311
after a daguerreotype by Antoine Claudet
engraving, probably 1850s
NPG D1134
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