George Barret, Sr.

George Barret, Sr. (c.1730, Dublin – May 29, 1784, Paddington, London) was an Irish landscape artist best known for his portraits of the British countryside during the mid to late 18th century. He was a founding member of the London Royal Academy.

Born to a Dublin clothier some time between 1728 and 1732, Barret began his career apprenticed to a staymaker. He taught drawing after completing his studies at the Royal Dublin Society. Later emigrating to England, he became a successful painter, particularly of wild and mountainous natural landscapes; of the 31 paintings he showed at the Royal Academy in 1769-1782, over one-third depict such scenery.

His patrons included Edmund Burke, with whom he had become friends while the latter attended Trinity College, Dublin. In his later years he suffered financial difficulties, but was helped by a recommendation by Burke in obtaining an appointment as master painter of Chelsea Hospital, a post he held until his death in 1784.

He married Frances Percy in 1757; four of their children (George, James, Joseph and Mary) also became painters though only George Barret, Jr. (1767-1842) achieved particular notability, as an early member of the Society of Painters in Water Colours, where he exhibited prolifically.

References

*W. C. Monkhouse, "Barret, George (1732?–1784)", rev. Anne Crookshank, "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2006 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/1512 accessed 12 June 2007]
*Webb, Alfred. "A Compendium of Irish Biography: Comprising Sketches of Distinguished Irishmen and of Eminent Persons Connected with Ireland by Office or by Their Writings", New York: Lemma Publishing Corporation, 1970.

Further reading

*Wynne, Michael. "Reflections on "Art and Oratory", Éire-Ireland, 5, 2 (Summer 1970), pp.95-102.
*Ramm, John. 'Apostle of Light' (Principally about Barret Jnr.), 'Antique Dealer & Collectors Guide', October 2000, Volume54, No.3.