Sir Richard Francis Burton
(1821-1890), Explorer and writerLater Victorian Portraits Catalogue Entry
Sitter in 10 portraits
Traveller and linguist. Burton was accompanied by John Hanning Speke on his African expeditions to Somalia (1854-55) and search of the Nile's source (1856-59). He reached Lake Tanganyika in February 1858, but failed to join Speke on his first visit to Lake Victoria. Burton was dismayed on his return to Britain to find that Speke had already promoted his theory that Victoria rather than Tanganyika was the Nile's source. He set forth his position with The Lake Regions of Central Africa (1860). Burton became famous for undertaking the holy pilgrimage to Mecca in 1853 which as a non-Muslim European, he did in various disguises. He later published A Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah. Burton spent most of the rest of his life in consular posts from which he continued to travel. His many works include a translation of The Arabian Nights.
by Marian Collier (née Huxley)
pencil, 1878
NPG 3148
by Carlo Pellegrini
watercolour, published in Vanity Fair 24 October 1885
NPG 5787
by Ernest Edwards, published by Alfred William Bennett
albumen print, published 1865 (April 1865)
NPG x14771
by Lock & Whitfield, published by Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington
woodburytype, published 1876
NPG Ax17479
by Lock & Whitfield
woodburytype, published 1876
NPG x4917
by Léopold Flameng, after Frederic Leighton, Baron Leighton
etching, (circa 1872-1875)
NPG D38802
Sir Richard Francis Burton ('Men of the Day. No. 343.')
by Carlo Pellegrini
chromolithograph, published in Vanity Fair 24 October 1885
NPG D44249
by Sidney M. Litten, published by Museum Galleries, after Frederic Leighton, Baron Leighton
mezzotint printed in colours, published 1922, based on a work of 1872-1875
NPG D49368
by James Jacques Joseph Tissot, and Carlo Pellegrini, and Alfred Thompson (Atn), and Sir Leslie Ward, and Théobald Chartran ('T'), and Adriano Cecioni
chromolithographs pasted onto wooden panel, assembled from prints published 1869-1886
NPG D39296
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