Adam Buck
Adam Buck (1759 – August 1833) was an Irish artist who specialised in neoclassical portraits, including portrait miniatures, and engravings. He was principally active in Dublin and London.
Also recorded as Buck · A. Buck
Adam Buck

Adam Buck · Wellcome Collection, London · Wellcome Collection · Public Domain Mark
- Name
- Adam Buck
- Born
- 1759
- Birthplace
- Cork, County Cork
- Died
- August 1833 (aged 73–74)
- Place of death
- London, England
- Known for
- * Portrait
- Nationality
- Ireland
- Occupation
- painter · printmaker
- Fields
- portrait
- Languages
- English
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Adam Buck (1759 – August 1833) was an Irish artist who specialised in neoclassical portraits, including portrait miniatures, and engravings. He was principally active in Dublin and London.
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Note VALÉORINE
Adam Buck (1759–1833) was a painter and printmaker, of Irish nationality. The painter was born in Cork and died in Pimlico.
The work spans portrait. Languages used include English. Works are held at Art Institute of Chicago, Cincinnati Art Museum and Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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Documentary evidence
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Authority files
wikidata · Q4678798 · wikipedia · Adam Buck
In this article
Biography
Biography
The recorded working language is English. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are portrait. Work by Adam Buck is recorded in the collections of National Gallery of Victoria, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Tate and Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Two young children, brother and sister, standing together in a colonnade with fields behind them. Colour stipple engraving after A Buck., Aug.t 1st 1809, by Adam Buck
Adam Buck · Wellcome Collection, London · Wellcome Collection

A member of the Jenner family (?), seated on a sofa, holding a paper in his right hand; behind, a window framed with a red curtain. Watercolour by A. Buck, 1793., 1793, by Adam Buck
Adam Buck · Wellcome Collection, London · Wellcome Collection
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Adam Buck • Born — 1759 • Birthplace — Cork, County Cork • Died — August 1833 (aged 73–74) • Place of death — London, England • Known for — * Portrait • miniature painting • engraving
Life
Life
Buck was born in Castle Street, Cork. Becoming an accomplished miniaturist in the 1780s while still in Ireland, he made a permanent move to London in 1795 – his residences there included 174 Piccadilly (1795–8), Frith Street, Soho (1799–1802) and Bentinck Street (1813–20). His patrons included Angelica Catalani (an opera singer), JP Kemble, Sir Francis Burdett, Thomas Hope, George IV, the duke of York and his mistress Mary Anne Clarke. A major influence on Regency culture (producing plates of contemporary costume as well as genre pictures of family and classical scenes and illustrations for Laurence Sterne's Sentimental Journey), he was himself much influenced by the Greek Revival (the furniture, vases - which he collected -, sculptures, costumes and even hairstyles in his works are all ancient Greek). He also acted as a painting teacher, as well as exhibiting more than 170 miniatures and small full-length portraits at the Royal Academy between 1795 and 1833. He died at 15 Upper Seymour Street, London.
Works
Works
• Proposals for publishing by subscription 100 engravings from paintings on Greek vases which have never been published, drawn and etched by Adam Buck from private collections now in England, dedicated to the earl of Carlisle (1811) – intended as a continuation of Sir William Hamilton's Collection of Engravings from Ancient Vases … (1791–7) • Illustration — Mary Anne Clarke (née Thompson) • Illustration — An Elegant Couple Admiring The 'Lely Venus', 1801 • Illustration — A Confident Child, 1809 • Illustration — Exhibited: Colnaghi as ‘A Girl smelling Geraniums’. Girl on a terrace. (1807) • Illustration — Portrait of a Young Lady Seated on a Sea-wall • Illustration — Exhibited: Agnews 94th Annual Exhibition of Watercolours and Drawings, 1957, No.17, as ‘Martha, Katherine and Isabel Butler’. Three small girls in a wild landscape. Pencil and watercolour. Indistinctly inscribed verso ‘(unclear name), Katharine and Isabella daughters of R.S(unclear). Previously believed to be three of the daughters of the Poet Robert Southey. (before 1834) • Illustration — "Archers", print after Buck, 1799 • Illustration — "Sophia Western", engraving after Buck, 1800
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Cork.
Birth place
Pimlico.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Adam Buck”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q4678798: Adam Buck
General reference · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.De Breffny, Brian. Ireland: A Cultural Encyclopedia. Thames and Hudson. 53. 1983.
- 2.De Breffny, pg. 53
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Prints
4,138 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Ad ReinhardtEngraver
- Ada Matilda ShrimptonEngraver
- Ada Vorhaus GabrielEngraver
- Adalbert J. VolckEngraver
- Adam Friedrich OeserEngraver
- Adam HelmsEngraver
- Adam van BreenEngraver
- Adamo ScultoriEngraver
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