The Gorge

In this landscape, a river runs over rocks at the bottom of a craggy gorge. Numerous trees grow from the sides of the steep rock faces, which dwarf the two fishermen in the painting’s bottom right corner. The painting is bright, evidently depicting a summer’s day in the British countryside. 

Barret’s mastery of landscape painting is incredibly evident here. The straight lines of the broad brushstrokes help to create the angular rock faces, whilst white streaks in the river create motion and denote the light playing on the water’s surface. The variety of greens used for the trees also indicate the sunlight filtering through leaves, with the leaves themselves painted in a loose way that almost indicates movement. There is a real idea of motion and the senses in this painting, with Brown having captured a split-second scene that the viewer can almost hear and feel.

George Barret Sr

George Barret Sr was born c.1730 in Dublin as the son of a cloth merchant. He was initially apprenticed as a staymaker, but he began to study at Robert West’s drawing academy as a young adult after spending some time hand-colouring prints for Thomas Silcock. After he completed his studies, Barret taught at the academy and befriended Edmund Burke, who was a student at the nearby Trinity College, Dublin.

For a while in his early career, Barret produced Italianate scenes that incorporated mythological figures. It is thought that he never travelled to Italy himself, and instead based these scenes off of engravings of other Italianate landscapes. These were immensely popular with the gentry in Ireland, including Joseph Leeson 1st Earl of Milltown and author Samuel Madden. With growing Irish patronage, Barret diverged from his Italianate works and started to paint Irish landscapes for patrons that included Edward Wingfield Viscount Powerscourt, the Marquess of Rockingham, and Thomas Conolly.

Barret travelled to London in 1762 to find more patronage, soon joining the Free Society of Artists and the Society of Artists of Great Britain. He exhibited at both of these societies, and was awarded first prize for one of his landscapes in 1764. In 1768, Barret was part of the founding members of the Royal Academy and exhibited his landscapes there regularly until 1782. During this time, Barret also took on occasional portrait and animal painting commissions, but his specialism remained firmly in landscapes.

In London, Barret was able to draw on his connections to the Marquess of Rockingham - who became Prime Minister, twice - to earn significant patronage from the English gentry and it was said that Barret earned up to £2000 a year for these commissions. Barret’s London patrons included the Duke of Portland, Sir Peter Byrne Leicester, the Duke of Buccleuch, George Keppel 3rd Earl of Albemarle, amongst many others. These patrons often had new estates that they wished Barret to produce paintings of and for. As tourism grew, Barret began to travel outside of London for patronage. He travelled to the Lake District, Scotland, the Isle of Wight, and Wales, painting landscapes of these locations to sell to tourists and gentry who had relocated to the area. Barret is known to have collaborated with George Stubbs and Sawrey Gilpin for animals in his works, as well as Philip Reinagle and Francis Wheatley for figuration.

Despite his success with commissions, Barret was reckless with money and was forced to sell his studio in 1771. With large landscape paintings fading out of fashion, Barret began to produce watercolours and gouache works instead. William Lock attempted to financially aid Barret by commissioning his portrait, and Barret’s close friend Edmund Burke managed to get Barret appointed as master painter for the Chelsea Hospital. Despite this aid, Barret left his wife and children in bankruptcy when he passed away in 1784. 

George Barret’s works are featured in many private collections across the United Kingdom, as well as public collections such as the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Walker Art Gallery, and the National Gallery of Ireland. Barret’s legacy is not just confined to collections in galleries, museums and stately homes, however; all four of his children became painters in their own rights. He was also a crucial landscape painter of his era, and demonstrates the high level of commercial success that skilled painters enjoyed in the era of 18th century British patronage.