George Barrett, Sr.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

View of Windermere Lake, Early Morning, 1781 - Canvas, accession no. 4712-3, Felton Bequest, 1933.

George Barrett, Sr. (1730-1784) was an Irish landscape artist best known for his portraits of the English countryside during the mid to late 18th century as well as a charter member of the London Royal Academy.

Born to a staymaker in Dublin, Ireland sometime between 1728 and 1732, Barrett would teach drawing after completing his studies at the Royal Dublin Society. Later immigrating to England, Barrett would become a successful painter, particularly of English landscapes, who among his patrons included Edmund Burke. One of the founding members of the Royal Academy, in his later years, he would be appointed as master painter of Chelsea Hospital, in part by a recommendation by personal friend Edmund Burke until his death in the London neighborhood of Paddington in 1784. He was the father of painter George Barret Jr. (1767-1842).

[edit] References

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.