Austen Henry Layard
Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire | |
|---|---|
| In office 1877–1880 | |
| Monarch | Queen Victoria |
| Preceded by | Sir Henry Elliot |
| Succeeded by | The Earl of Dufferin |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 5 March 1817 Paris, France |
| Died | 5 July 1894 (aged 77) London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Spouse | Mary Enid Evelyn Guest |
Sir Austen Henry Layard
He had a political career between 1852, when he was elected as a Member of Parliament, and 1869, holding various junior ministerial positions. He was then made ambassador to Madrid, then Constantinople, living much of the time in a palazzo he bought in Venice. During this period he built up a significant collection of paintings, which due to a legal loophole he had as a diplomat, he was able to extricate from Venice and bequeath to the National Gallery (as the Layard Bequest) and other British museums.[1][2]
Family
Layard was born in Paris,
On 9 March 1869, at
Biography
Early life
Much of Layard's boyhood was spent in Italy, where he received part of his schooling, and acquired a taste for the fine arts and a love of travel from his father; but he was at school also in England, France and
After wandering for many months, chiefly in Persia, with
Excavations and the arts
Layard remained in the neighbourhood of Mosul, carrying on excavations at
To illustrate the antiquities described in this work he published a large folio volume of The Monuments of Nineveh. From Drawings Made on the Spot (1849). After spending a few months in England, and receiving the degree of
Apart from the archaeological value of his work in identifying Kuyunjik as the site of Nineveh, and in providing a great mass of materials for scholars to work upon, these two books of Layard were among the best written books of travel in the English language.[3]
Layard was an important member of the Arundel Society,[6] and in 1866 he was appointed a trustee of the British Museum.[3] In the same year Layard founded "Compagnia Venezia Murano" and opened a venetian glass showroom in London at 431 Oxford Street. Today
Political career
Layard now turned to politics. Elected as a Liberal member for
Diplomatic career
Layard resigned from office in 1869, on being sent as envoy extraordinary to Madrid.
Retirement in Venice
Layard retired to
He died on 5 July 1894 at his residence 1 Queen Anne Street, Marylebone, London.[12] After a post mortem autopsy his remains were cremated at the Woking Crematorium in Surrey. His ashes were interred in the cemetery of Canford Magna Parish Church in Dorset, England.
Publications
- Layard, A.H. (1849), Nineveh and its remains : with an account of a visit to the Chaldean Christians of Kurdistan, and the Yezidis, or devil worshippers; and an inquiry into the manners and arts of the ancient Assyrians, John Murray, London, 2 volumes
- Layard, A.H., The Monuments of Nineveh., John Murray (London)
- First series, 1849 , 100 plates, From Drawings Made on the Spot.
- Second series, 1853 , 71 plates, A Second Series [..] including Bas-Reliefs from the Palace of Sennacherib and Bronzes from the Ruins of Nimroud. From drawings made on the spot during a second expedition to Assyria. (alt. plates only)
- Layard, A.H. (1851), Inscriptions in the Cuneiform Character, from Assyrian monuments, discovered by A. H. Layard, D.C.L. (PDF), Harrison & Son (London)
- Layard, A.H. (1852), A Popular Account of Discoveries at Nineveh., John Murray (London) , abridged version of Nineveh and its remains (1849)
- Layard, A.H. (1853), Discoveries among the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon; with travels in Armenia, Kurdistan, and the desert: being the result of a second expedition undertaken for the Trustees of the British museum, Discoveries in the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, John Murray (London)
- Layard, A.H. (1854), The Ninevah Court in the Crystal Palace., John Murray (London)
- Layard, A.H. (1857), The Madonna and saints painted in fresco by Ottaviano Nelli, in the church of S. Maria Nuova at Gubbio, John Murray (London)
- Layard, A.H. (1867), Nineveh and Babylon A narrative of a second expedition to Assyria, during the years 1849, 1850, and 1851, John Murray (London) , abridged version of Nineveh and Babylon (1853)
- Layard, A.H. (1887), The Italian schools of painting – based on the handbook of Kugler, John Murray (London)
- Layard, A.H. (1887), Early Adventures in Persia, Susiana, and Babylonia., John Murray (London) , 2 volumes
- Layard, A.H. (1903), Bruce, William N. (ed.), Autobiography and Letters from his childhood until his appointment as H.M. Ambassador at Madrid., John Murray (London) , 2 volumes, biography
References
- ^ "Austen Henry Layard", National Gallery
- ^ Rivista enciclopedica contemporanea, Editore Francesco Vallardi, Milan, (1913), entry by UN, pages 16-17.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Layard, Sir Austen Henry". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 312.
- ^ Layard, Austen Henry (1853). "Discoveries in the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon..." Internet Archive. G. P. Putnam and Co. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
- ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3.
In the 19th cent. A. H. Layard, the excavator of Nineveh, first suggested that the local *Syriac Christian communities in the region were descended from the ancient Assyrians, and the idea was later popularized by W. A. Wigram, a member of the Abp. Of Canterbury's Mission to the Church of the East (1895–1915).
- ^ Layard 1903, Vol.1, p.vi.
- ^ Briggs, Asa: The Age of Improvement, 1783–1867 (2nd edition), p. 377. Routledge, 2000
- ^ "No. 23449". The London Gazette. 11 December 1868. p. 6581.
- ^ "Sir Henry Layard", Eminent persons: Biographies reprinted from the Times, vol. VI (1893–1894), Macmillan & Co., p. 134, 1897
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/16218. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Coustillas, Pierre ed. London and the Life of Literature in Late Victorian England: the Diary of George Gissing, Novelist. Brighton: Harvester Press, 1978, p.318.
- ^ Philip Temple, Colin Thom, Andrew Saint (2017) Survey of London: South-East Marylebone Volumes 51 and 52 Yale University Press
Further reading
- ISBN 0-442-28260-5.
- Jerman, B.R. (1960), The Young Disraeli, Princeton University Press
- Kubie, Nora Benjamin (1964), Road to Nineveh: the adventures and excavations of Sir Austen Henry Layard
- Larsen, Mogens T. (1996), The Conquest of Assyria, Routledge, ISBN 0-415-14356-X
- ISBN 0-500-05038-4
- Waterfield, Gordon. (1963), Layard of Nineveh, John Murray
- Sinan, Kuneralp, ed. (2009), The Queen's Ambassador to the Sultan. Memoirs of Sir Henry A. Layard's Constantinople Embassy 1877–1880, The ISIS Press, Istanbul, ISBN 978-975-428-395-2
- Silverberg, Robert. (1964), The man who found Nineveh. The story of Austen Henry Layard, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York
External links
- Works by Austen Henry Layard at Project Gutenberg
- Works by Austen Henry Layard at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Austen Henry Layard
- Feature about the Lanyard and Blenkinsopp Coulson Archives
