The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

The Life of Buckingham

c. 1855

Augustus Leopold Egg

(British, 1816-c. 1863)
England, 19th century, Victorian
oil on board
Framed: 54.1 x 64.5 x 10.2 cm (21 5/16 x 25 3/8 x 4 in.); Unframed: 30.5 x 40.5 cm (12 x 15 15/16 in.)
Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund 2014.373
Location: 203B British Painting and Decorative Arts

Description


Augustus Leopold Egg’s The Life of Buckingham depicts a fictional moment in the debauched, roguish life of George Villiers (1628–1687), 2nd Duke of Buckingham (seated at the center, wearing white). Although the scene is invented,
the merrymakers and courtesans depicted around the table (among them King Charles II, to Buckingham’s right) were characters the duke would have personally known and were familiar to Victorian audiences who delighted in the
cautionary tale of excess.
  • by 1865 - 1876: James Dugdale (1813-1876), Wroxall Abbey, Warwick
    1876 - 1927: by descent to his son James Broughton Dugdale (1855-1927)
    1927: James Broughton Dugdale sale, Christie's, June 24, 1927, (lot 133 with 134)
    1927 - ?: "bt. Martin and Sampson, respectively The Toast of the King and The Death Chamber, both for total price of £25 4s [Christie's notes say 24 gns to Harrison with lot 134; research ongoing]
    ?: with Anthony Hordern, Sydney, Australia [research ongoing]
    ? - 2014:hitherto undisclosed American private collection [research ongoing]
    2014: bought in at Christie's London "Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite & British Impressionist Art" sale on June 17, 2014 (lot 13)
    2014-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • "Selected Pictures. In the Collection of James Dugdale, Esq., Wroxall Abbey, Warwickshire. 'The Life of Buckingham'." The Art Journal [...] Illustrated Catalogue of the International Exhibition 4, no. 46 (October 1, 1865): 296. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 296
    "Minor Topics of the Month: Egg's Paintings of the 'Life and Death of Buckingham'. The Art Journal [...] Illustrated Catalogue of the International Exhibition 5, no. 51 (March 1, 1866): 93-95. Mentioned: p. 95
    Temple, A. G. The Art of Painting in the Queen's Reign; Being a Glance at Some of the Painters and Paintings of the British School During the Last Sixty Years. London, United Kingdom: Chapman and Hall, 1897. Mentioned: p. 54-55
    Faberman, Hilarie. Augustus Leopold Egg, R.A. (1816-1863). Thesis PhD Cambridge, MA:Yale University, 1983, 1985. Mentioned: p. 488-489
    Korkow, Cory. “Acquisition Highlights 2014: European Painting.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 55, no. 2 (March/April 2015): 16. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 16 archive.org
  • British Gallery Reinstallation (June 2020). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).
  • {{cite web|title=The Life of Buckingham|url=false|author=Augustus Leopold Egg|year=c. 1855|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2014.373