William Beckford (mai rubutun ra'ayi)

William Thomas Beckford (29 Satumba 1760 - 2 Mayu 1844) marubuci ne kuma ɗan siyasa na Burtaniya. An san shi a wani mataki na zama mafi arziki a Ingila. Shi ɗan William Beckford ne da Maria Hamilton, 'yar Hon. George Hamilton, kuma ya yi aiki a matsayin memba na majalisa na Wells a 1784-1790 da Hindu a 1790-1795 da 1806-1820. Beckford an fi saninsa da rubuce-rubucen Littafin Gothic na 1786 Vathek, don gina Fonthill Abbey a Wiltshire da Beckford's Tower a Bath, da kuma tarin fasaharsa.

 Tarihin rayuwa 
Beckford was born in the family's London home at 22 Soho Square on 29 September 1760.John Burke, Genealogical and Heraldic History of The Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 1, London, 1833, p. 678. At the age of ten, he inherited a fortune from his father William Beckford, who had been twice a Lord Mayor of London. It consisted of £1 million in cash, an estate at Fonthill in Wiltshire (including the Palladian mansion Fonthill Splendens), several sugar plantations in Jamaica, and about 3,000 slaves.

Wannan arziki ya ba shi damar sha'awar fasaha da gine-gine, da kuma rubuce-rubuce. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ne ya horar da shi a takaice a cikin kiɗa,  amma masanin zane-zane, Alexander Cozens, ya kasance mafi tasiri, kuma Beckford ya ci gaba da rubutu tare da shi na wasu shekaru har sai sun fadi. John Burke, Genealogical and Heraldic History of The Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 1, London, 1833, p. 678.

A ranar 5 ga Mayu 1783 Beckford ya auri Lady Margaret Gordon, 'yar Earl na huɗu na Aboyne. Koyaya, ya kasance bisexual kuma bayan 1784 ya zaɓi gudun hijira daga al'ummar Burtaniya lokacin da wasiƙunsa zuwa Earl na Devon">William Courtenay, daga baya 9th Earl of Devon, kawun yaron ya tsayar da su, wanda ya tallata al'amarin a cikin jaridu. Courtenay yana da shekaru goma kawai a ganawa da Beckford na farko, wanda ya girme shi da shekaru takwas. Kimanin shekaru shida bayan haka, an gano Beckford (bisa ga baƙon gida a lokacin) don "yi wa Courtenay bulala a wasu matsayi ko wani" bayan ya sami wasika da Courtenay ya rubuta wa wani masoyi. Kodayake ba a taba tuhumar Beckford da cin zarafin yara ba, fasikanci ko yunkurin buggery, daga baya ya zaɓi ya yi gudun hijira a nahiyar tare da matarsa mai wahala, wacce ta mutu a lokacin haihuwa tana da shekaru 24.John Burke, Genealogical and Heraldic History of The Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 1, London, 1833, p. 678.

 Tarin zane-zane 
Beckford ya kasance mai tarawa mai tilastawa kuma mai rashin kwanciyar hankali, wanda kuma sau da yawa ya sayar da ayyuka, wani lokacin daga baya ya sake sayen su. Tarinsa ya kasance sananne ne ga zane-zanen Quattrocento na Italiya da yawa, sannan ba a tattara shi sosai ba kuma ba shi da tsada. Duk da sha'awarsa ga Romantic medievalism, ya mallaki ƙananan ayyukan zamani, kodayake da yawa daga Renaissance. Ya kuma kasance mai sha'awar abubuwan Asiya masu ban sha'awa kamar su zane-zanen dutse na Mughal. Kodayake ya guje wa marmara na gargajiya da masu tarawa na Ingilishi masu ilimi ke nema, yawancin tarin sa na kayan ado na Faransa ne na ƙarni na 18 da zane-zane, sannan farashi mai yawa idan aka kwatanta da zane-zanen, ta hanyar ka'idojin zamani. Ya sayi Turner guda ɗaya a cikin 1800, lokacin da mai zane yake da shekaru 25 kawai (The Fifth Plague of Egypt, £ 157.10s), a cikin zane-zanen William Blake na Gray's Elegy,  da kuma ayyukan da yawa na Richard Parkes Bonington, amma gabaɗaya ya fi son tsofaffin ayyukan.

A shekara ta 1822 Beckford ba shi da kuɗi da bashi. Ya sanya Fonthill Abbey don sayarwa, wanda aka sayar da kwafin 72,000 na kundin zane-zane na Christie a guinea daya; ra'ayi na sayarwa ya cika kowane gidan gona a unguwar tare da baƙi daga London. Fonthill, tare da wani ɓangare na tarin sa, an sayar da shi kafin sayarwa don £ 330,000 ga John Farquhar, wanda ya yi arziki da sayar da bindiga a Indiya.

Farquhar nan da nan ya sayar da fasaha da kayan aiki a cikin "Fonthill sale" na 1823, inda Beckford da surukinsa, Duke na Hamilton, suka sayi abubuwa da yawa, sau da yawa a farashi fiye da farashin farko da Beckford ya biya, saboda kasuwa ta ɗan baƙin ciki. Abin da ya rage daga tarin, kamar yadda aka kiyaye kuma aka kara da shi a Hasumiyar Lansdown, wanda ya kai kusan tarin na biyu, Dukes na Hamilton ne suka gaji shi. Yawancin wannan an warwatsa shi a cikin "sayar da fadar Hamilton" na 1882, ɗaya daga cikin manyan tallace-tallace na karni.

Sayarwar Fonthill ta haifar da bita mai banƙyama na William Hazlitt game da dandano na Beckford don "abin da ba shi da kyau da abubuwan ban sha'awa ko ƙwarewar inji," kyawawan ɗakunan ado da zane-zane da aka gama sosai, "mafi kyawun ruhun rai", wanda aka sake bugawa a cikin Hazlitt's Sketches of the Picture Galleries of England (1824), John Burke, Genealogical and Heraldic History of The Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 1, London, 1833, p. 678. kuma yana nuna nuna nuna nuna bambancin kansa.  Abubuwan Beckford yanzu suna cikin gidajen tarihi a duk faɗin duniya. Hazlitt bai san cewa an gishiri da sayarwa ba tare da kuri'a da Phillips mai siyarwa wanda bai taba wucewa da Beckford ba: "Ba zan kunyata gidana da kayan kasar Sin ba, "in ji shi daga baya a rayuwa. "Horace Walpole ba zai sha wahala a cikin shagon kayan wasa a Strawberry Hill ba".

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