John Buckler (artist): Difference between revisions

{{Use dmy dates|date=JulyJanuary 20132024}}

Buckler was born in [[Calbourne]], [[Isle of Wight]]. At the age of 15 he became clerk to the steward of [[Magdalen College, Oxford]] and began a lifelong involvement in the management of the college's [[London]] estates. After several years working on plans for new buildings, around 1801 he became [[bailiff]] and collector of rents for Magdalen College in Freeman's Court, London, and in [[Southwark]], and held this post until his retirement in 1849. The work for the college allowed him ample free time, and he also practised as an architect until 1830, designing buildings such as [[Halkyn Castle]], Flint (1822–27) for [[Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster|Robert Grosvenor, 2nd Earl Grosvenor]] (later created Marquess of Westminster)<ref name=Colvin/> the tower of the church in [[Theale, Berkshire]] (1827–28).<ref name=ODNB>Tyack, 2004</ref> Glastonbury Priory, also called Abbey House, [[Somerset]] (1829–30) for J.F. Reeves, and Poll Park, [[Denbighshire]] (c. 1828), for [[William Bagot, 2nd Baron Bagot]], "an early essay in the [[half-timbered]] style", according to [[Howard Colvin]], who suggested that Buckler had a hand in the Gothic remodelling of [[Blithfield Hall]], Staffordshire, for Lord Bagot, 1822–23. He or his son also designed the church of St. John the Baptist, Pentrobin, (now [[Penymynydd]]), in the County of Flintshire, 1843, for Sir Stephen Glynne, as one of the first Gothic Revival churches that came out of the [[Cambridge Camden Society]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://cadwpublic-api.azurewebsites.net/reports/listedbuilding/FullReport?lang=en&id=18470 | title = Summary Description of a Listed Buildings -– St John the Baptist's Church | publisher = [[Cadw]] | access-date = 2018-06-23 }}</ref>

Buckler's interest in art developed over time, and his first published works were two [[aquatint]]s of Magdalen College in 1797. He followed these in 1799 with an [[engraving]] of [[Lincoln Cathedral]]; the first in a series which included all the cathedrals in England by 1814, as well as many of the [[collegiate church|collegiate]] and [[parish church]]es. Shortly after 1800 he was commissioned by [[Richard Colt Hoare]] of [[Stourhead]] to produce ten volumes of drawings of churches and other historic buildings in [[Wiltshire]], and Buckler's grandson described this commission as "deciding his brains for [[antiquarian]] pursuits".<ref name=ODNB/> It was followed by similar commissions from other antiquarians, such as [[William Salt]] of [[Staffordshire]],<ref name=SVC>{{cite web|url=http://www.views.staffspasttrack.org.uk/about.asp |title=About the collection |accessdate=26 July 2008 |publisher=Staffordshire Views Collection |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705053240/http://www.views.staffspasttrack.org.uk/about.asp |archivedate= 5 July 2008 }}</ref> and by the end of his life, by his own account, Buckler had produced around 13,000 drawings of buildings.<ref name=ODNB/> Many of the buildings Buckler drew had not been previously recorded, and many have since been demolished or substantially altered, so his work is now a valuable source of information on British architectural history.<ref name=ODNB/> His work was exhibited at the [[Royal Academy]] every year from 1798 until 1849, and - after being twice-blackballed in 1808 and 1809 - he became a Fellow of the [[Society of Antiquaries of London]] in 1810.<ref name="Annual Register">[https://books.google.com/books?id=UxkEAAAAYAAJ&printsec=titlepage&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#PRA1-PA361,M1 ''The Annual Register, Or, A View of the History and Politics of the Year 1851''] (1852), London:George Woodfall & Son, p. 361.</ref><ref>Joshua Mardell (2022) "Blackballing Buckler: the Letters of John Buckler (1770-1851), the Carter School and the Foundations of an Antiquarian Dynasty", ''Antiquaries Journal'', 102:418-446. [http://doi:10.1017/S0003581522000038 doi:10.1017/S0003581522000038]</ref>

John Buckler died in [[Newington, London]], in 1851, two years after his retirement. Forty-two volumes of his sketches<ref>Mixed with those of his son, J.C. Buckler, whose "pencil drawings of ancient buildings are almost indistinguishable in technique from those of his father" (Colvin).</ref> are now held by the [[British Library]];<ref>Add. Mss. 36356-97</ref> other places holding collections of his work include the [[Wiltshire Museum]] at Devizes, [[Taunton]] Museum, the William Salt Library in [[Stafford]] and the [[Bodleian Library]] in [[Oxford]].<ref name=ODNB/><ref name=SVC/>

His eldest son, [[John Chessell Buckler]] (1793–1894), also an architect and artist, wrote several illustrated books on the history of British architecture, and his youngest son, George Buckler (1811–1886), and grandson [[Charles Alban Buckler]] (1825–1905) practised as architects as well. The Buckler family of architects and topographical artists has been the subject of a research project since 2013 hosted by the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture at [[ETH Zurich]].<ref>SAHGB (Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain), Newsletter, No. 111 Winter/ Spring 2014, p. 81</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.gta.arch.ethz.ch/theses/the-buckler-dynasty-en | title = Thesis Project - The Buckler Dynasty 1792–1901 | publisher = [[ETH Zurich]] | access-date = 2018-06-23 }}</ref>

*{{cite book |author=Colvin, H.M. |author-link=Howard Colvin |title=A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-18401600–1840 |year=1995 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |location=New Haven |isbn=0-300-07207-4 |pages=not cited}}

*{{cite ODNB|last=Tyack |first=Geoffrey |authorlink= |title=Buckler, John (1770–1851) |id=3863}}