Adam Buck

Yesterday the Ashmolean in Oxford opened An Elegant Society: Adam Buck, artist in the age of Jane Austen. An Irish miniaturist, Buck came to London in hopes of making his fortune. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and quickly established a wealthy clientele of royals, landowners, serving officers and society hostesses. His influence on Regency art was considerable. The exhibition includes over 60 works from private collections: watercolours, small portraits and miniatures, examples of his decorative designs for fans and porcelain and his prints (CLICK). Shown is his charming, but unrealistic First Steps (1808).