Thomas (of Bath) Barker
(1769 - 1847) |
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Classical Landscapes, Portraiture Art Work
| Name: |
Thomas (of Bath) Barker |
| Gender: |
Male |
| Place of Birth: |
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| Nationality: |
British |
| Birth: |
1769 |
| Death: |
1847 |
| Website: |
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| Past Auctions: |
Click Here |
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Quick Facts
| Known For: |
Classical Landscapes, Portraiture |
| Medium: |
Oil on canvas |
| Method: |
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| Style: |
Realism |
| Fine Art Profession(s): |
Painter
Etcher
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Biography
| Painter of every class of picture, but best known for peasant genre, on scale of life or in small, and landscape. The family moved to Bath c. 1782 and Barker is known as Barker of Bath, because he worked there most of his life, and his art was not much thought of in London. He is said to have been entirely selftaught and was certainly very precocious, and was taken up and educated by a generous coachbuilder and collector, Charles Spackman, who arranged for him to copy Dutch and Flemish 17th century pictures in his own collection. In imitation of Gainsborough's latest 'fancy pieces,' Barker produced a number of more or less life-size figures of peasants or common urban types which were extremely successful, fetched high prices, and later were copied in cheap engravings, on china and every sort of artifact. Spackman sent Barker to Italy 1790-93, with a generous allowance, where he profited a good deal from a study of the tradition of foreign painters in Italy. Returning to Bath in 1793, he found his father dead and Spackman bankrupt, but his selfconfidence is apparent in the 'Self portrait', 1793. He held a one-man show in London in 1797, without much effect, and he turned out an enormous number of small or middle size pictures, mainly of rural life, but also with a religious, historical, or contemporary social content. |
Samples of Work
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