Barret the Elder (George, 1732-1784) Moonlit view of a woodland landscape with a house and boathouse, probably Claremont, Surrey, black and white chalks on prepared paper, sheet 405 x 530 mm (15 7/8 x 20 7/8 in), under glass, minor surface dirt, framed, [mid-18th century] Provenance: Collection of John and Eileen Harris *** George Barret made a number of drawings of Claremont then the seat of Lord Clive. One was engraved by William Watts in April 1779 as part of The seats of the nobility and gentry in a collection of ...picturesque views. The print shows the Palladian house which Clive was having built to the designs of Capability Brown and his son in law Henry Holland, having demolished the vast Vanburgh mansion built by the Duke of Newcastle.
GEORGE BARRET RA (1732-1784) Hauling Timber Through A Wood Gouache and gum Arabic on paper, 46 x 62cm Signed Provenance: With The Gorry Gallery, Dublin Exhibited: Gorry Gallery, ‘An Exhibition of 18th-21st century Irish Painting’, Dublin October 2020 A waggon laden with logs is drawn by a train of horses through a landscape of trees which are beginning to turn to imbue the verdure with a rich autumnal palette. This is one of a small group of works of related subject matter including a large gouache, Timber Wain on a rough Road in the Yale Center for British Art. Here Barret is working in direct competition with Thomas Gainsborough who produced works showing harvest wagons both during his Bath period - one was exhibited in 1767 at the Society of Artists (Barber Institute, Birmingham)- and in 1784, the year Barret died (Art Gallery of Ontario). Susan Sloman suggests that Gainsborough may have been ‘concerned that Barret was stealing his thunder’ given the positive reviews the Irish artists was receiving in the contemporary press. In 1775, for example, the Middlesex Journal wrote enthusiastically, praising: Everything that a warm imagination can produce. The groups of cattle are admirably disposed; the sunshine true; the plan well-conceived and furnished with the most masterly brush possible. The vast productions of nature, when sporting in the fields, amongst rocks, trees, cattle, and rural figures of every sort, are subservient to [Barret’s] will, and he imitates them so well that it may with truth be said, he adds to their beauties, and not impoverishes her works. It is likely that Barret’s gouaches date from about 1774 but given the compositional similarities Bar ret must have studied Gainsborough’s Harvest Waggon in the exhibition in 1767. One of the reasons Barret may have been drawn to the subject matter was his move to Paddington, which was then a rural village outside London. As Henry Angelo describes it, there were ‘a few old houses on each side of the Edgeware-road, together with some ale-houses of very picturesque appearance, being screened by high elms, with long troughs for watering the teams of hay-wagons, on their way to and from the market’. Barret did not have far to walk from his front door to find the suitably picturesque subject matter that he paints here. Article by William Laffan and Dr. Logan Morse, (who recently completed a PhD researching George Barret), courtesy of The Gorry Gallery, Dublin
GEORGE BARRET (1732 -1784) Classical River Landscape with Travellers and a White Horse Oil on canvas, 97 x 123cm Provenance: Parker Gallery, London label verso Together with Thomas Roberts (see lot 40), George Barret is the towering figure among the Irish-born landscape painters, sometimes called the Dublin Group, who brought the art to such a notable peak in the second half of the eighteenth century. In 1778, Thomas Campbell (1733-95) noted the ‘general excellence of Irish artists in landscape’ and, elsewhere, he suggested that Irish artists had ‘no competitors’ in the genre. Barret who made his career in London and was honoured as one of the foundation members of the Royal Academy in 1768, would have provided a crucial role model for the younger generation, such as Roberts, back home in Dublin. Barret is an endlessly inventive artist and, while he never repeats himself verbatim, he enjoys ringing the changes by playing with the different elements within his landscape syntax – figures, animals, trees, water, architecture – to produce what are perhaps best seen as ‘variations on a theme’, in which the component parts may vary, but the idiom is recognisably – and distinctively – Barret. Indicating, how he composed his work by a process of continuously shuffling different motifs, which he had observed individually and sketched directly from nature, to create different, and often very varied, compositions, the present large landscape offers an intriguing comparison with a work in the National Gallery of Ireland. The left hand side of the composition of both pictures is largely the same, as large trees grow out of a rocky escarpment from which a natural cascade flows into a river. As often, here Barret’s handling of flowing water is masterly, adding a dynamic sense of movement to this portion of the composition. The right hand sides of the two pictures are, however, noticeably different. In the National Gallery of Ireland work, a fisherman casts his line, rather optimistically, into the rapids, rather than into the still pool of water where he may have had better luck. In our work, by contrast, the composition is animated by a traveller with a white packhorse progressing to the right who has encountered a rustic figure, perhaps another traveller, or shepherd, accompanied by his alert and animated dog. Throughout the whole painting, the palette is controlled in a relatively low key and with none of the chromatic highlights – flicks of red in costumes – that can sometimes distract. Instead landscape and figures blend into a harmonious and very pleasing unity, which is emphasised by the subtly portrayed, even fall of light throughout the painting. This is a classical landscape certainly, but one based on the artist’s clear study of the land scape of his native land, and, most particularly, the scenery of the Dargle Valley in County Wicklow. Barret was born in Dublin probably in 1732. Little is known of his family background except that he was born in the Liberties, the son of a clothier. At about the age of fourteen Barret entered the drawing school of Robert West (soon to be taken over the Dublin Society), which exclusively taught drawing through the copying of prints, drawings and casts. In 1747 the young Barret came to public attention for the first time when as a young student at the Drawing School he was awarded a premium for his proficiency. At some point in the late 1740s or very early 1750s, Barret received his first notable commission when he was employed by Joseph Leeson to paint a series of landscapes which were set into decorative plaster frames in the Library (now the Dining Room) of his newly-built house at Russborough, County Wicklow. The capriccios Barret painted for Leeson, if more classically inspired than some of his later works (particularly in the depiction of the architecture), are delightful and they set the tone for the rest of his Irish-period oeuvre. Through the 1750s, and particularly the early 1760s, Barret continued to develop his personal style. The somewhat schematic structural characteristics of the 1740s remain, but his paintings become more boldly rendered and enlivened with increasing success by diminutive figures that evolve from Rococo Italianate staffage to more substantial and convincing fishermen or wayfarers – as here. In the years immediately preceding his departure for London, Barret seems to have been exceptionally busy and he received commissions from the most exalted levels of Irish society. During his formative years in Ireland Barret enjoyed the patronage of, among others, the Peppers of Ballygarth Castle and the Bectives of Headfort, and painted accomplished, classical landscapes, capriccios, house portraits, topographical views and, on occasion, hybrid compositions that drew on all of these models. Barret moved with some degree of social proximity with his grand patrons, appearing, for example, in a letter of 7 December 1762 from Emily FitzGerald at Castletown, her sister’s house in Kildare, where his presence is noted in the company of Lord Powerscourt. In the same year that he was working at Castletown, Barret was actively engaged in painting Pow erscourt’s famous County Wicklow demesne. Several views survive, including two of the great house, built to designs by Richard Castle, and at least four of the famous waterfall. Views of Powerscourt were among the works Barret showed at the Society of Artists in his first London exhibition in 1764. Barret had left for London at some point in 1762. By September of that year, an auction was held ‘of the furniture of Mr. George Bar ret’s house in Leeson Street, near Donnybrook corner at Stephen’s Green’, rather appropriately just across the Green from where this work will be auctioned. Barret thrived in London, winning honours, patronage from the great of Georgian England, and, occasionally, wealth too. However, it is for his Irish landscapes such as the present work, done when he was a young man in Dublin that his art is most admired today. We thank Dr Logan Morse, who has recently completed a PhD on George Barret, for her assistance in compiling this catalogue entry.
GEORGE BARRET, RA AND A COLLABORATOR AFTER STUBBS IRISH, 1728/32-1784 THE FRIGHTENED HORSE Oil on canvas Verso marked in chalk: LOT 25 5TH JUNE 1987; Catalogue note: For an essay by William Laffan please contact Potomack
GEORGE BARRET, RA IRISH, 1728/32-1784 CLASSICAL RIVER LANDSCAPE WITH SHEEP AND ANGLERS, BALLYGARTH CASTLE IN THE BACKGROUND Oil on canvas Catalogue note: In more than two and a half centuries, this is only the second time that this large and impressive work by George Barret has been offered at auction. From about 1760, when it was painted, until September 1980, it hung in either the Drawing Room or the Dining Room of Ballygarth Castle, County Meath, in Ireland. Ballygarth Castle, strategically positioned above the Nanny Water, was initially built by the Netterville family in the twelfth century, but four centuries later they lost it in the political turmoil of the 1640s. It was granted to Colonel George Pepper and he managed to retain possession when it was forfeited in the Williamite Wars later in the century. The castle, which appears, peeping about the trees, in the left middle distance of Barret's painting, has been substantially remodelled over the centuries. A plain, two-storey Georgian block was added in 1782, which was castellated in 1867. A billiard room was added in 1889. The previous lot in the 1980 sale of the contents of Ballygarth Castle, portraying Ballygarth church, was catalogued simply as Irish School, but was, in fact, a further, and characteristic, specimen of Barret's Irish period. The topographically accurate view of the church indicates that Barret painted at Ballygarth, and suggests that both works were commissioned by the Pepper family directly from the artist, rather than being acquired by a later generation of the family. His patron was Thomas Pepper (1733-1800), a Member of Parliament for Kells, County Meath, who was connected by birth and political interest to the Taylor family, Earls of Bective from nearby Headfort who were also important early patrons of Barret. The Ballygarth landscape can be dated quite precisely to towards the end of Barret's early period in Ireland in the 1760s. In the years immediately preceding his departure for London, Barret seems to have been exceptionally busy and was receiving patronage from the most exalted levels of Irish society. A large and ambitious landscape, it is a typically accomplished example of Barret's Irish period and shows several of the recurring structural characteristics for which he was so admired by his contemporaries: a dominating tree, a passage of water and a distant view to mountains. All are enlivened by diminutive figures, which, over the course of his period in Ireland, evolve from rococo Italianate to more substantial fishermen or travellers. Barret's art of this period can be seen as a fruitful combination of the direct exposure to the breathtaking scenery of Ireland and his close study of the classical landscape tradition. The artist was to articulate the importance of these twin sources of inspiration in a letter to a young artist 'paint from nature not forgetting art at the same time'. It is in lush, romantic landscapes - and resolutely Irish - works such as this that he made his most original contribution to landscape art and certainly this is the period of his art that has been most cherished by collectors. Here in this magnificent landscape from Ballygarth Castle can be seen the grandeur of conception and boldness of execution that led his friend James Barry to characterize Barret, with forgivable hyperbole, as 'a superior genius to Claude'. We are grateful to William Laffan for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.
Circle of George Barret, Snr, RA, Irish c.1730-1784- View of a wooded landscape with church ruins, figures and cattle; oil on canvas, 104.5 x 89 cm. Provenance: Phillips London, 15 December 1992, as 'Circle of William Tomkins', lot 79. Note: The present work very much recalls Barret's evocative, arcadian landscapes, which were heavily inspired by the Classical Italianate landscapes of Claude Lorrain (1600-1682). The pastoral element of the present scene, featuring diminutive cattle grazing in the foreground, imparts the work with a sense of rustic simplicity and tranquility, whilst also recalling the approach of a later generation of Dutch Italianate painters, including Nicolaes Berchem (1620-1683) and Jan Both (1610/18-1652). A painting by Barret which showcases a similarly softly lit landscape and which also features finely rendered medieval architecture is in the collection of the Yale Centre for British Art [acc. no. B1981.25.34].
CIRCLE OF GEORGE BARRET (IRISH CIRCA 1728-1784)FISHING SCENE AT SUNSETOil on canvas86 x 107.5cm (33¾ x 42¼ in.)Provenance: Sale, Sotheby's, 28 November 2002, lot 121
George Barret RA (1732-1784) Hauling Timber Through a Wood Gouache and arabic gum on paper, 46.7 x 63cm (18¼ x 24¾) Provenance: With The Gorry Gallery, Dublin Exhibited: Gorry Gallery, 'An Exhibition of 18th-21st century Irish Painting', Dublin October 2020 A waggon laden with logs I drawn by a train of horses through a landscape of trees which are beginning to turn to imbue the verdure with a rich autumnal palette. This is one of a small group of works of related subject matter including a large gouache, Timber Wain on a rough Road in the Yale Center for British Art. Here Barret is working in direct competition with Thomas Gainsborough who produced works showing harvest wagons both during his Bath period - one was exhibited in 1767 at the Society of Artists (Barber Institute, Birmingham)- and in 1784, the year Barret died (Art Gallery of Ontario). Susan Sloman suggests that Gainsborough may have been 'concerned that Barret was stealing his thunder' given the positive reviews the Irish artists was receiving in the contemporary press. In 1775, for example, the Middlesex Journal wrote enthusiastically, praising: Everything that a warm imagination can produce. The groups of cattle are admirably disposed; the sunshine true; the plan well-conceived and furnished with the most masterly brush possible. The vast productions of nature, when sporting in the fields, amongst rocks, trees, cattle, and rural figures of every sort, are subservient to [Barret's] will, and he imitates them so well that it may with truth be said, he adds to their beauties, and not impoverishes her works. It is likely that Barret's gouaches date from about 1774 but given the compositional similarities Barret must have studied Gainsborough's Harvest Waggon in the exhibition in 1767. One of the reasons Barret may have been drawn to the subject matter was his move to Paddington, which was then a rural village outside London. As Henry Angelo describes it, there were 'a few old houses on each side of the Edgeware-road, together with some ale-houses of very picturesque appearance, being screened by high elms, with long troughs for watering the teams of hay-wagons, on their way to and from the market'. Barret did not have far to walk from his front door to find the suitably picturesque subject matter that he paints here. Article by William Laffan and Logan Morse, (a PhD student researching George Barret), courtesy of The Gorry Gallery, Dublin
George Barret RA (1732-1784) A Landscape with Figures and the Ruins of Melrose Abbey, Roxburghshire oil on canvas signed 'G. Barret' lower centre right h:107 w:147 cm. Provenance: Private Collection; These Rooms, 14th April 2020 lot 32; Private Collection Exhibited: Gorry Gallery, Dublin, 'An Exhibition of 18th-21st Century Irish Paintings' 12th-31st October 2020 No.1(illustrated on p.2) Dating from around 1770, this magnificent painting by George Barret shows the fifteenth-century ruins of Melrose Abbey, a medieval Cistercian monastery on the Scottish borders, beside the river Tweed. The main architectural features of the abbey, its east window and transepts, form the focal point of the composition. Through the east window can be glimpsed the presbytery and choir. In the left foreground, a family accompanied by a dog are picnicking in the shade of a tree. A boy in the group is proudly showing a fish he has caught in the nearby river. Scattered around the abbey precincts can be seen what appear to be low tables; these are gravestones, many of which survive, and the ruins as depicted by Barret are remarkably similar to those seen by visitors today. His painting, one of the earliest accurate views of the abbey, was painted around 1770 and commissioned by the Duke of Buccleuch. The choice of an Irish artist was appropriate, as the original abbey had been founded by St. Aidan of Lindisfarne, for monks from St. Columba's monastery on Iona. An early prior of Melrose, St. Cuthbert, later became prior of Lindisfarne. In the 12th century, the abbey was revived by Cistercian monks, but over the succeeding centuries the buildings were burned on several occasions during wars between England and Scotland. The abbey has long been recognised as an important historic site, and featured in Thomas Pennant's 1772 Tour in Scotland and Francis Grose's 1789 Antiquities of Scotland. Sir Walter Scott lived at Abbotsford, a few miles west of Melrose, and his 1803 poem The Lay of the Last Minstrel, celebrates the abbey and its history. In addition to poets such as Scott, and William Wordsworth, the ruins at Melrose have inspired visual artists, among them Thomas Girtin, John Varley, David Roberts and William Turner-Turner's depiction of the east window is inscribed with a (slightly inaccurate) quotation from Scott's poem: "who'er would see fair Melrose right/ must visit by the pale Moonlight". When painted by Barret, the central part of the nave was still being used as the parish church for Melrose. His painting highlights the elegant Gothic traceries of the abbey, the same traceries that would later would inspire Scott: "The moon on the east oriel shone/Through slender shafts of shapely stone". Barret's painting appears to be one of the earliest accurate views of the abbey, and confirms his status as a rising star in the eighteenth-century English art world. Having moved to London from Dublin, aided by his patron Edmund Burke, Barret was securing commissions from wealthy patrons, including Buccleuch. In or around 1769 he visited the duke's estate at Dalkeith near Edinburgh, and stopped off at Melrose Abbey along the way, to make sketches. The results of this trip to Scotland were exhibited at the inaugural exhibition of the Royal Academy in London the following year and included views of the duke's estate. Another painting by Barret from this period Part of Melrose Abbey by Moonlight, indicating that Sir Walter Scott was not the first to encourage visitors to the abbey to make night time visits. For many years, the abbey was under the protection of the Dukes of Buccleuch, but in the early twentieth century was transferred to state ownership. A painting still in the Buccleuch collection at Bowhill, of the abbey's east window, compares closely to the present work. Born in the Liberties in Dublin, the son of a clothier, George Barret was largely self-taught as an artist, before enrolling at the Dublin Society's Drawing Schools, where he trained under Robert West and James Mannin. Influenced by aesthetic theories of Edmund Burke, to study from nature rather than copy old masters, Barret would take his canvas and paints out into the landscape, to places of scenic beauty in the Dublin and Wicklow mountains. In 1757 he married Frances Perry, and six years later they moved to London to advance his career. In 1764 he exhibited View of the Waterfall at Powerscourt and View in the Dargle at The Society of Artists. Barret was influential in the formation of the Royal Academy in 1768, and exhibited regularly there until 1782, when he was appointed Master Painter at Chelsea Hospital. His painted murals at Norbury Park include panoramic views of the Lake District. He also painted views of Welbeck Abbey in 1765. Barret's sons Joseph, James and George, and his daughter Mary, all became artists. Peter Murray, March 2023
ATTRIBUTED TO GEORGE BARRET RA (1730-1784) Study of a Barn in a Landscape Watercolour, 13 x 18cm (5 x 7) Provenance: Heather Newman Gallery (now Newman Fine Art), Painswick (label verso).
George Barret (c.1728-1784) A Landscape with Figures and the Ruins of Melrose Abbey, Roxburghshire oil on canvas signed lower right h:106 w:147 cm. Provenance: Private Collection
Ireland,Circa 1730-1784 Romanticist landscape depicting a river in a forested meadow created in the late18th to early 19th century by a follower of George Barret Sr. R.A.
GEORGE BARRET SNR. RA (c.1730-1784)Landscape with FiguresOil on canvas, 99 x 134.5cm (39 x 53'')Barret was a friend of Edmund Burke (1729-1797) - and their work therefore engages an Anglo-Irish perspective on landscape which requires an inherent connection between aesthetics and politics which, like other aspects of Irish history, have been underplayed in the dominant narratives of British art. [1]The son of a tailor, Barret was born in Dublin. He was to become a founding member of the Royal Academy in 1768, and his work was popular in his lifetime. [2] According to Thomas Bodkin, George Barret, the elder, was reputed in his day, to be the greatest landscape painter whom Ireland, England, or Scotland had till then produced. [3] Despite this Barret experienced the vicissitudes of the eighteenth century art market and ended his life in relative obscurity and bankruptcy. While this picture may be undated, based on a stylistic analysis the present picture was painted before Barret's move to London around 1763 and was most certainly an Irish view. The composition was allegedly influenced by Burkes ideas on the Sublime and the Beautiful. The enhanced detail of this early painting in the style of romantic realism creates a 'sublime' mood. It is rumoured that Burke introduced Barret to the Dargle Valley near Powerscourt Falls during the early 1760s leading to a connection with one of Barrets earliest patrons, Lord Powerscourt, owner of this property. Patrons such as the Taylours of Headford and the Conollys of Castletown began to commission series of topographical paintings. These landscapes demonstrated the extent of Barret's talent and helped him establish his reputation in London. Barret soon began exhibiting views of the Dargle Valley at the Society of Artists of Great Britain.This painting has several characteristics typical of Barrets early work including the framing of the trees, diffused light the heavy application of and the use of saturated colour. To the right of the composition, a cluster of trees and foliage almost reach the top of the canvas. The painting depicts two men with a two washerwomen with one holding a baby. There is a dog with them while they are fishing along a stream with two fishnets. A view of a town can be seen in the distance. This painting was purchased by a Dublin dealer, Mrs. Rosie Black and was restored, lined and given a new stretcher before it was purchased in the 1980s.1] For treatments of this see for example L. Gibbons, Edmund Burke and Ireland: Aesthetics, Politics, and the Colonial Sublime (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003).2] E. Waterhouse, Painting in Britain, 1530-1790 (Harmondsworth: Pelican, 1978), pp. 241-2.3] T. Bodkin, Four Irish Landscape Painters (Dublin: The Talbot Press, 1920).
George Barret RA (1730-1884)Horses, Sheep and a Cow in LandscapeOil on panel, 13.5 x 16.75cm (5.25 x 6.5)Inscribed 'Landscape by Barrett (sic), Cattle by Gilpin' in ink versoEnclosed in a carved and gilded Louis XIV oak frameFew works on this scale by Barret are recorded. However, discussing prices with a client, Barret wrote in 1775: 'I have painted pictures from 10ft down to 5ins.'[1]1] A. Laing, Clerics and Connoisseurs: An Irish Art Collection Through Three Centuries, p. 102 (London: English Heritage, 2001)
George Barret Snr. RA (c.1730-1784)Landscape with FiguresOil on canvas, 99 x 134.5cm (39 x 53'')Barret was a friend of Edmund Burke (1729-1797) - and their work therefore engages an Anglo-Irish perspective on landscape which requires an inherent connection between aesthetics and politics which, like other aspects of Irish history, have been underplayed in the dominant narratives of British art. [1]The son of a tailor, Barret was born in Dublin. He was to become a founding member of the Royal Academy in 1768, and his work was popular in his lifetime. [2] According to Thomas Bodkin, George Barret, the elder, was reputed in his day, to be the greatest landscape painter whom Ireland, England, or Scotland had till then produced. [3] Despite this Barret experienced the vicissitudes of the eighteenth century art market and ended his life in relative obscurity and bankruptcy. While this picture may be undated, based on a stylistic analysis the present picture was painted before Barret's move to London around 1763 and was most certainly an Irish view. The composition was allegedly influenced by Burkes ideas on the Sublime and the Beautiful. The enhanced detail of this early painting in the style of romantic realism creates a 'sublime' mood. It is rumoured that Burke introduced Barret to the Dargle Valley near Powerscourt Falls during the early 1760s leading to a connection with one of Barrets earliest patrons, Lord Powerscourt, owner of this property. Patrons such as the Taylours of Headford and the Conollys of Castletown began to commission series of topographical paintings. These landscapes demonstrated the extent of Barret's talent and helped him establish his reputation in London. Barret soon began exhibiting views of the Dargle Valley at the Society of Artists of Great Britain.This painting has several characteristics typical of Barrets early work including the framing of the trees, diffused light the heavy application of and the use of saturated colour. To the right of the composition, a cluster of trees and foliage almost reach the top of the canvas. The painting depicts two men with a two washerwomen with one holding a baby. There is a dog with them while they are fishing along a stream with two fishnets. A view of a town can be seen in the distance. This painting was purchased by a Dublin dealer, Mrs. Rosie Black and was restored, lined and given a new stretcher before it was purchased in the 1980s.1] For treatments of this see for example L. Gibbons, Edmund Burke and Ireland: Aesthetics, Politics, and the Colonial Sublime (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003).2] E. Waterhouse, Painting in Britain, 1530-1790 (Harmondsworth: Pelican, 1978), pp. 241-2.3] T. Bodkin, Four Irish Landscape Painters (Dublin: The Talbot Press, 1920).
George Barret, Sen., R.A. (Dublin 1728/31-1784 London ) A mountainous river landscape based on the Dargle Valley in County Wicklow,... oil on canvas 42 x 54 in. (106.7 x 137.2 cm.)
GEORGE BARRET (1730-1784)View at Gibside, Newcastle upon Tyne (the Seat of Lord Strathmore) with the Column to Liberty in the BackgroundWatercolour, 24 x 36.5cmProvenance: Spink & Son, Ltd., circa 1950 (inscribed label verso).
GEORGE BARRET (1730-1784)A Mountainous Landscape with a Farmstead and CowsWatercolour, 28.5 x 41.5cmSigned and dated 1763Old handwritten label fragment verso
GEORGE BARRET SNR (c.1728-1784)A Mountainous Wooded River Landscape with a Waterfall and Three FiguresOil on canvas, 96.5 x 125.7cmProvenance: Senator Edward McGuire, Newtown Park, Blackrock, Co. Dublin; Christie's, 21st March 1969, Lot 80George Barret was a friend of Edmund Burke (1729-1797) - and their work therefore engages an Anglo-Irish perspective on landscape which requires an inherent connection between aesthetics and politics which, like other aspects of Irish history, have been underplayed in the dominant narratives of British art. The son of a tailor, Barret was born in Dublin. He was to become a founding member of the Royal Academy in 1768, and his work was popular in his lifetime. According to Thomas Bodkin, George Barret, the elder, was reputed in his day, to be the greatest landscape painter whom Ireland, England, or Scotland had till then produced. Despite this Barret experienced the vicissitudes of the eighteenth century art market and ended his life in relative obscurity and bankruptcy. Although he attained the title of Official Painter to the Chelsea Royal Hospital in 1782 thanks to Burkes intervention, Barret died before he was able to take it up. In his stead, his son James assumed the role. As friend of Burke, with whom Barret shared an Anglo-Irish background, Barrets work explores the ideas of the Sublime, reflecting the influence of Burkes treatise A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful (1756). A panoramic view of the Lake District (c.1780) commissioned by William Locke to decorate a room at his house, Norbury Park, Surrey, is considered Barrets masterpiece. Despite Barrets success as a painter, his position at the Royal Academy and the support he received from Burke, he has historically been seen as belonging to a lower tier of artistic merit than his better-known contemporaries. Contemporary painters such as Wilson themselves perceived this inequality, describing Barrets paintings as depicting foliage like spinach and eggs. Unlike Wilson, Barret did not travel to Italy, and borrowed his classical motifs from prints or from Wilsons paintings in order to cater to the tastes of his grand tourist patrons. Barret required to make a living from his work and many of his paintings were primarily intended for sale or as part of interior decoration commissions, for which Barret gained much contemporary commercial success - as at Norbury Park. Similarly lucrative commissions include ten views of Welbeck Abbey, Nottinghamshire, which Barret had painted in 1765-7 for William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, and 1768 he received a similar commission from Henry Scott, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch to record the mountainous landscapes around Dalkeith Park, Lothian, as in A Rocky River Scene. These pictures were exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1769 and 1771.Based on a stylistic analysis the present picture was painted before Barrets move to London around 1763 and is most certainly an Irish view. The composition was influenced by Burkes ideas on the Sublime and the Beautiful. The enhanced detail of this early painting in the style of romantic realism creates a sublime mood. It is rumoured that Burke introduced Barret to the Dargle Valley near Powerscourt Falls during the early 1760s leading to a connection with one of Barrets earliest patrons, Lord Powerscourt, owner of this property. Patrons such as the Taylours of Headford and the Conollys of Castletown began to commission series of topographical paintings. These landscapes demonstrated the extent of Barrets talent and helped him establish his reputation in London. Barret soon began exhibiting views of the Dargle Valley at the Society of Artists of Great Britain. This painting has several characteristics typical of Barrets work including the framing of the trees, diffused light and the heavy application of and the use of saturated colour. To the right of the composition, a cluster of trees and foliage almost reach the top of the canvas. In the centre there is a view of distant hills beyond a waterfall in the middle ground slightly to the right. The finely detailed figures in the foreground towards the bottom right corner catch the viewers eye, given the complimentary use of red to depict their clothing. One balances on a fallen tree near two anglers apparently in conversation. The distinctive brown palette is vaguely reminiscent of the Dutch artist Jacob van Ruisdael whose work Barret had studied while painting under Robert West in the Royal Dublin Society.A considerable number of Barrets early stylistic features are present in the painting and can be seen in other pictures executed around the same period. The repeated traits typically include a dominating tree on one side of the painting; a body of water or waterfall in the centre, or slightly placed to the right, and a distant view of mountains or hills. For example, an ex-Gorry Gallery piece, An Irish Landscape inspired by the Dargle Valley, must have been painted around the same time. The views are similar in size, composition and, colour palettes. Both paintings have anglers dressed in red and are lit by diffused light. The National Gallery of Irelands: An Extensive Wooded Landscape with Fishermen Hauling in their Nets in the Foreground also shares the same basic elements with the overall effect of creating the sublime grandeur, as inspired by Burke.Logan MorseAugust 2017
Classical wooded river landscape, with a shepherd at rest in the foreground with his dog, a cottage beyondOil on canvas (unlined)Enclosed in a decorative frameNote: See lot 20
ATTRIBUTED TO GEORGE BARRET (british b. c. 1728-1784) AUTUMN LANDSCAPE WITH STREAM Oil on panel 11 7/8 x 15 1/2 in. (30.2 x 39.4cm) provenance: Private Collection, Florida.
The Great Sugarloaf Mountain, Co. Wicklow with a figure on horseback alongside a dog in foreground Oil on canvas Enclosed in a gilt frame George Barret (Irish, 1730-84) was born in Dublin. He began his artistic career as a pupil of Robert West at his drawing school in George's Lane, and was encouraged by Edmund Burke to take up landscape painting. His early works are views in Co. Wicklow, on the River Dargle and the Powerscourt Estate. Some of these were painted on a large scale. To seek his fortune as an artist, Barret travelled to London in 1762. His landscapes were favourably received and his patrons included the Duke of Buccleuch and the Duke of Portland of Welbeck Abbey. In 1768, Barret was one of the founders of the Royal Academy. He exhibited thirteen works at the Society of Artists and thirty-two at the Royal Academy. Works by Barret can be seen at the National Gallery of Ireland, the Ulster Museum, the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
ATTRIBUTED TO GEORGE BARRET (british c. 1728-1784) AUTUMN LANDSCAPE WITH STREAM Oil on panel 11 7/8 x 15 1/2 in. (30.2 x 39.4cm) provenance: Private Collection, Florida.
GEORGE BARRET, RA (IRISH, 1730-1784) A lake scene with figures seated in the foreground . A castle in the distance Oil on canvas (unlined) George Barret was born in Dublin in 1732. He began his artistic career as a pupil of Robert West at his drawing school in George's Lane, and was encouraged by Edmund Burke to take up landscape painting. His early works are views in Co. Wicklow, on the River Dargle and the Powerscourt Estate. Some of these were painted on a large scale. To seek his fortune as an artist, Barret travelled to London in 1762. His landscapes were favourably received and his patrons included the Duke of Buccleuch and the Duke of Portland of Welbeck Abbey. In 1768, Barret was one of the founders of the Royal Academy. He exhibited 13 works at the Society of Artists and 32 at the Royal Academy. Works by Barret can be seen at the National Gallery of Ireland, the Ulster Museum, the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.12¼ x 12¼ inches (31 x 31 cm.)
GEORGE BARRET RA (1732-1784)View of Tintern Abbey, Co. WexfordOil on canvas, 40 x 53cmProvenance: Purchased from Sabin Galleries, Cork Street, LondonSituated on the west shore of Bannow Bay in Co. Wexford, Tintern Abbey was one of the most powerful Cistercian foundations in the South East until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536. Upon which in 1575 it was granted by Queen Elizabeth to Sir Anthony Colclough of Staffordshire and it remained within the Colclough family until 1959. The family made considerable extensions to the abbey to accommodate its new domestic function. They also demolished some outer buildings and used the stone to erect the neat bridge over the small tidal river, as seen in the background of Barrets painting, located only short distance from the demesne. This inclusion of recognisable architectural features, common to Barrets work, marked them out as studied compositions as distinct from arbitrary observations. A degree of order is applied to the view in an attempt to enhance rather than fabricate the landscapes innate qualities. That is not to say the work is without its elements of illusionism with Barret adding a consummate air of intensity through the stark cloud filled sky. Equally the staffage figures in the foreground add a degree of narrative embellishment to the scene. During the second-half of the eighteenth century wild landscapes and medieval ruined buildings came to be seen as fascinating and mysterious. Their echoes of romantic tales attracted tourists to these locations with British and Irish artists increasingly developing an appreciation and stylistic expression for their own environments rather than imitating Italianate or Dutch landscape traditions.
GEORGE BARRET, SR., RA (IRISH, 1728/1732-1784) A landscape with castle in the middle distance. A waterfall, cattle and a piping herdsman in the foreground Oil on canvas Contained in an eighteenth-century giltwood frame George Barret was born in Dublin in 1732. He began his artistic career as a pupil of Robert West at his drawing school in George's Lane, and was encouraged by Edmund Burke to take up landscape painting. His early works are views in Co. Wicklow, on the River Dargle and the Powerscourt Estate. Some of these were painted on a large scale. To seek his fortune as an artist, Barret travelled to London in 1762. His landscapes were favourably received and his patrons included the Duke of Buccleuch and the Duke of Portland of Welbeck Abbey. In 1768, Barret was one of the founders of the Royal Academy. He exhibited 13 works at the Society of Artists and 32 at the Royal Academy. Works by Barret can be seen at the National Gallery of Ireland, the Ulster Museum, the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Worldwide shipping available. It is advisable to send shipping enquiries to shipping@sheppards.ie prior to 26 April 2016.
George Barret (c. 1767 - 1842), watercolour - figures fishing beside a river, in classical landscape with temples beyond, in glazed gilt frame, 31cm x 46cm
Glen of the downs - a wooded river landscape with sheep, goats in the foreground, a cottage and distant mountains,Oil on canvas,George Barret was one of the most renowned Irish landscape painters of the eighteenth-century. He was born in Dublin and commenced his studies at the Royal Dublin Society. His early work consisted of topographical scenes, mostly in County Wicklow, notably his large views of the Powerscourt Estate. He also painted Romantic landscapes, showing the Irish landscape in all its natural glory. He moved to England and was employed by the Landed Gentry to depict their estates. He worked in Scotland and produced a set of paintings for the Duke of Buccleuch, which remain with the family to this day. He was a founding member of The Royal Academy, showing 31 works at their Annual Exhibition, and also, exhibited at the Society of Artists and the Free Society. On the recommendation of Edmund Burke, Barret became Master Painter of the Chelsea Hospital. He was greatly influenced by the Dutch painters of the "Golden Age", notably Jacob Isaacksz van Ruisdael. Barret's works can be seen in the National Gallery of Ireland, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, and in the collections of the stately homes of Ireland, England, and Scotland.
GEORGE BARRET SNR (1732-1784) The edge of a wood and a mountainous river landscape with trees, two sepia pen and ink sketches, 5 1/2" x 7 1/4" and 5 1/4" x 7" Prov: The drawings came from one of the volumes put together by Edward Basil Jupp (1812-1877) published for private circulation in 1871 according to labels verso (2)
GEORGE BARRET, R.A. (DUBLIN 1728/32-1784 LONDON) VIEW OF TISSINGTON CHURCH, DERBYSHIRE, WITH A FIGURE AND HORSES IN THE FOREGROUND; VIEW IN THE PEAK DISTRICT, DERBYSHIRE, WITH FISHERMEN IN THE FOREGROUND AND BRADBOURNE MILL BEYOND; VIEW OF PEAK CAVERN, DERBYSHIRE; AND VIEW OF LLANBERIS, NORTH WALES, WITH FISHERMEN IN THE FOREGROUND AND DOLBADARN CASTLE BEYOND OIL ON CANVAS 20¼ X 27 IN. (51.3 X 68.5 CM.) A SET OF FOUR (4)
George Barret, R.A. (Dublin 1728/31-1784 London) An Italianate wooded river landscape with bathers, peasants and ruins; and An Italianate river landscape with travelers, revelers and a waterfall 6 oil on canvas 42¾ x 55 in. (108.6 x 143.9 cm.); 42¼ x 56½ (107.3 x 143.5 cm.) a pair (2)
Circle of George Barret Sr. O.W.S. (Irish, 1728-1784) Deer resting beneath trees beside a lake graphite, watercolour and wash on pale grey paper, unframed 11 1/2 x 16 1/4in. (29 x 41.25cm.); together with an unstretched oil on canvas of a huntsman startling deer on a wooded hillside, first half 19th century, 17 x 25 1/4in. (43 x 64cm.); and a 19th century watercolour of deer watering in a wooded gorge, 24 1/4 x 14in. (61.5 x 35.5cm.), all unframed. (3)
![Barret the Elder (George) Moonlit view of a woodland landscape with a house and boathouse, probably Claremont, Surrey, black and white chalks, [mid-18th century]](https://stageimg.invaluable.com/housePhotos/Forum-Auctions/34/782334/H20198-L388941090.jpg)
