FREDERICK BUCK (IRISH 1771-1839/1840) Portrait miniature of a Gentleman circa 1790, wearing a blue coat, white waistcoat and tied cravat, painted with powdered hair and side burns Watercolour on ivory Gold frame, the reverse glazed to reveal platted brown hair Oval, 60mm (2 1/2in) high Exhibited: Comerford Collection at the Irish Architectural Archives, Dublin, 2009 Literature: The Comerford Collection: Portrait Miniatures, (privately published, Dublin, 2009) pp 8, 36 (# 135) Fredrick Buck was the younger brother of Adam Buck, also a miniaturist. He worked in Cork. During the Peninsular War, when the city was a busy port for the embarkation of troops, Buck received so many commissions for portraits of officers before they went off to war that he kept a supply of partly painted ivories, to which he would later add the heads and regimental features. Although a large part of his work were portraits of officers, he did occasionally paint portraits of civilians, as shown in this example.