BECK, or Beek, David, an eminent portrait painter, born in 1621, at Arnheim in Guelderland. He was trained by Vandyck, from whom he acquired the fine manner of pencilling and sweet style of colouring peculiar to that great master. He possessed likewise that freedom of hand and readiness, or rather rapidity of execution, for which Vandyck was so remarkable, insomuch that when King Charles I. observed the expeditious manner of Beck’s painting, he exclaimed, “Faith! Beck, I believe you could paint riding post.” He was appointed portrait-painter and chamberlain to Queen Christina of Sweden, and he executed portraits of most of the sovereigns of Europe to adorn her gallery. He lived in the highest favour with his royal mistress, and with difficulty obtained a short leave of absence from her court. He died soon after (1656) at the Hague, not without suspicion of having been poisoned.

BECKER, Wilhelm Adolf, a classical archaeologist of distinction, was born at Dresden in 1796. He was at first destined for a commercial life, but was, in 1812, sent to the celebrated school at Pforta, whence, in 1816, he passed to the University of Leipsic. Here he had the good fortune to study under the famous Hermann. After holding subordinate posts at Zerbst and Meissen, he was, in 1836, appointed extraordinary professor of classical archaeology at Leipsic; and six years later he was raised to the professorship of antiquities in the same university. He died at Meissen in September 1846. The w orks by which Becker is most widely known are the Gallus, oder römische Scenen aus der Zeit des Augustus, 1838, and the Charicles, oder Bilder altgriechischen Sitte, 1840. The author show’s not only a complete mastery of Greek and Roman antiquities, but a very happy faculty of imparting life to the dry bones of the science. Both works have been translated into English. Perhaps more useful for scholars is the great Handbuch der röm. Alterthümer, 5 vols. (1843-64), completed after Becker’s death by Marquardt, and of which a second and enlarged edition is now in course of publication.

BECKET, or À Becket, Thomas. See À Becket, vol. i. p. 31.

BECKFORD, William, an English author, the son of Aiderman Beckford, who was noted for his manly reply to George III. on the presentation of an address from the city of London, was born in 1761. At the age of nine he inherited a large fortune from his father; and in early life he travelled in Italy, Sicily, Spain, and Portugal, and resided some time near Cintra, where he had a princely residence. He afterwards returned to England, and after selling his old house of Fonthill began to build a magnificent residence there, on w hich he expended in about eighteen years, the sum of .£273,000. This, together with its splendid library and pictures, he sold to Mr Farquhar in 1822; but soon after one of the towers, 260 feet high, fell, destroying part of the villa in the ruins. Beckford, however, began the erection of another lofty structure on Lansdowne-hill, near Bath, where he continued to reside till his death in 1844. He was a powerful and original writer. His first work, Biographical Memoirs of Extraordinary Painters, which appeared in 1780, was a slight sarcastic Jeu d ’ esprit. In 1784 he published in French the singular tale entitled History of the Caliph Vathek, which soon afterwards appeared in English, and has taken its place as one of the finest productions of richly luxuriant imagination. In 1834 his first Continental tour appeared under the title of Letters from Italy, with Sketches of Spain and Portugal, a work never, perhaps, surpassed for striking description and refined sarcasm. His latest production, published in 1835, was entitled Recollections of an Excursion to Alcobaza and Batallia in 1794. All these works exhibit cultivated taste and a remarkable power of vivid description. He left two daughters, the eldest of w hom was married to the 10th duke of ...

BECKMANN, Johann, the author of the History of Inventions, was born in 1739 at Hoya in Hanover, where his father was postmaster and receiver of taxes. His mother, who was left a widow before he was seven years of age, sent him to school at Stade; and in 1759 he repaired to the University of Göttingen with the intention of studying theology, which, however, he soon abandoned in favour of natural science. The death of his mother in 1762 having deprived him of his former means of support, he accepted, at the offer of Busching, the professorship of natural history iu the Lutheran Academy, St Petersburg. This office he soon relinquished, and journeyed through Sweden, where he inspected the manner of working the mines, and formed the acquaintanceship of Linnaeus at Upsala. In 1766 he was appointed professor at Göttingen. There he lectured on various arts and on political and domestic economy, and was in the habit of leading his students into the workshops that they might acquire a practical as well as a theoretical knowledge of different processes and handicrafts. While thus engaged he determined to trace the history and describe the present condition of each of the arts and sciences on which he was lecturing, being perhaps incited by the Bibliothecoe of Haller. But even Beckmann’s industry and ardour were unable to overtake the amount of study necessary for this task. He therefore confined his attention to several practical arts and trades; and to these labours we owe his Notices on the History of Discoveries in the Common Arts of Life,— a work in which he relates the origin, history, and recent condition of the various machines, utensils, &c., employed in trade and for domestic purposes. In 1772 Beckmann was elected a member of the Royal Society of Göttingen, and he ...