Colonel Frederick Burnaby, Life Guards. A small oval oil portrait.

Colonel Fredrick Gustavus Burnaby, Life Guards. A small oval portrait in oils showing the soldier, adventurer and writer [1842-1885]. It measures approximately 4¼ x 3¼ ins visible in a late Victorian oval ebonised frame, 5¾ x 4¾, with gilt lining and the name painted beneath the portrait FRED BURNABY. The frame has a working strut stand, hinged to lie flat allowing wall hanging. The bust length portrait shows the colonel in civilian dress and was probably painted around the 1880s, either shortly before or after his death from a spear wound received in the Sudan campaign. His most famous portrait, in the National Portrait Gallery, London shows him in uniform reclining in a very relaxed pose. He is now probably best known for his books about his somewhat eccentric travels in Central Asia and for his reputation as the strongest man in the British Army. He was 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighed up to 20 stones. An attractive, leather bound copy of his A Ride to Khiva: Travels and Adventures in Central Asia is currently to be found in our Books category.  jun/2

Provenance: In my private collection since the 1880s.