Austen Henry Layard: Biography, Facts and Career
Who is Austen Henry Layard? An evergreen, sourced profile: biography, key facts and career.
Sir Austen Henry Layard (; 5 March 1817 – 5 July 1894) was a British Assyriologist, traveller, cuneiformist, art historian, draughtsman, collector, politician and diplomat. He was born to a mostly English family in Paris and largely raised in Italy. He is best known as the excavator of Nimrud and of Nineveh, where he uncovered a large proportion of the Assyrian palace reliefs known, and in 1851 the library of Ashurbanipal. Most of his discoveries are now in the British Museum. He made a large amount of money from his best-selling accounts of his excavations. 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.
Quick facts about Austen Henry Layard
- Full name: Austen Henry Layard
- Born: 1817-03-05
- Nationality: France
- Known as: Author
- Wikidata ID: Q275013
Profile compiled from public Wikipedia and Wikidata data. Details can change over time.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Austen Henry Layard?
Sir Austen Henry Layard (; 5 March 1817 – 5 July 1894) was a British Assyriologist, traveller, cuneiformist, art historian, draughtsman, collector, politician and diplomat.
What nationality is Austen Henry Layard?
Austen Henry Layard is France.
When was Austen Henry Layard born?
Austen Henry Layard was born on 1817-03-05.
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