Images Dated 16th December 2005

Buffon, 19th century. Artist: Hart

Buffon, 19th century. George-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, French naturalist. Author of the encyclopedic 44-volume Histoire Naturelle, Buffon (1707-1778) proposed that the Earth existed before 4004 BC, the then generally accepted date of its creation. His work was a precursor of the theory of evolution

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Cortez, 19th century. Artist: William Holl

Cortez, 19th century. Hernan Cortes (1485-1547), Spanish conquistador who conquered Mexico. Cortes landed in Mexico in 1519. With a force of only some 600 men, he succeeded in overthrowing the empire of the Aztecs, a civilization numbering 5 million. He was able to achieve this partly due to the natives being terrified of the Europeans horses and firearms, neither of which they had seen before. In addition, the Aztecs believed a prophecy that they would be visited by a light-skinned bearded god, the Quetzalcoatl, who had taught them agriculture and government in the past, and whose return they were to welcome with great ceremony. Cortes was able to exploit his resemblance to the Quetzalcoatl to great effect

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Gulielmus Hogarth, 19th century. Artist: James Mollison

Gulielmus Hogarth, 19th century. The portrait deliberately projects a guide to the way Hogarth (1697-1764) wanted others to think of him. The artist's painting in informal dress rests on a pile of books labelled (in the finished engraving) Shakespeare, Milton and Swift. William Shakespeare and John Milton were generally acknowledged to be the greatest modern English authors and Jonathan Swift was a vigorous modern satirist. The palette and graver represent Hogarth's twin roles as painter and engraver and the Line of Beauty alludes to his favourite art theory. The only living object in the painting is Hogarth's pet pug, Trump. Hogarth announces himself as essentially English. He despised the slavish following of foreign models, and believed that art should be based on the imitation of nature, like the work of the great English authors

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