Thomas BARKER of Bath (1769-1847, English)
Three children Resting by a Tree Trunk in a Wooded Landscape
oil on canvas
50 x 40 inches
Price: Sold
Thomas Barker, known as 'Barker of Bath', showed a precocious talent from, an early age, which was noticed by a local coachbuilder and businessman, Charles Spackman who arranged to provide training for the young artist in return for an interest in his output. The training consisted of copying Old Master paintings, and Barker was forbidden to draw from life. Spackman launched Barker with an exhibition in 1890, showing paintings in the English, French, Italian and Dutch manner. Barker gained instant fame. Many of his paintings of this period were closely modeled on the work of Gainsborough, who had lived in Bath in the 1760s and 1770s.
Spackman arranged for Barker to go to Rome in 1790, where he became friends with the artist Flaxman and set up a Society of English Art Students. On his return to England in 1793, Barker lived in London before returning to Bath in 1800. In 1803 he married and commissioned a large Doric-columned house with a 30ft picture gallery to exhibit his works. He maintained a large output of paintings, landscapes in the Italian manner and rustic genre scenes.
Barker had four daughters and four painter sons: the landscape and historical painter Thomas Jones Barker (1813-82); the copyist Benjamin Barker (1817-89), John Joseph Barker (1824-1904), who painted landscapes and genre; and Octavius William Barker (b. 1826). Thomas Barker's works can be seen in the Victoria Art Gallery, Bath (as can examples of the work of the other Barkers). Examples of his work can also be found in the Victoria and Albert Museum and Tate Gallery.
Thomas Barker (1769-1847), known as 'Barker of Bath', showed a remarkable talent from an early age, drawing figures and designing landscapes though being entirely self-taught. He moved to Bath at the age of sixteen, initially copying the works of the Dutch and Flemish Old Masters. At the age of twenty-one, he was sent to Rome, with ample funds to maintain his position there as a gentleman.
Life as an artist
Barker was an occasional exhibitor at the Royal Academy and the British Institution for almost fifty years, during which period he exhibited nearly one hundred pictures. He was a prolific artist and painted a wide range of subjects. Few pictures of the English school are more generally known and appreciated than The Woodman, of which it appears two were painted, both of them from nature, and of life size: the first was sold to Mr. Macklin for 500 guineas; the second, for the same amount, became the property of Lord W. Paulett. In 1821 he painted the Trial of Queen Caroline, which included portraits of many celebrated men; but perhaps the best effort of Barker's pencil skill was the fresco, 30 feet in length, and 12 feet in height, representing The Inroad of the Turks upon Scio, in April 1822, painted on the wall of his residence, Sion Hill, Bath.
While Barker's talents were in full vigour, no artist of his time had a greater hold on popular favour; his pictures of The Woodman, Old Tom (painted before he was seventeen years of age), and gipsy groups and rustic figures, were copied onto almost every possible material: Staffordshire pottery, Worcester china, Manchester cotton, and Glasgow linens. At one time he amassed considerable property by the sale of his works and spent a large sum in building a mansion for his residence, enriching it with sculpture and other works of art. He died at Bath in 1847.
There are six paintings by Barker in the Tate Gallery, including A Woodman and his Dog in a Storm (originally presented to the National Gallery in 1868) and several landscapes.
Family
As well as Thomas Barker, the Barker family produced several artists of note. As well as his father's ability, Thomas' younger brother Benjamin Barker II (1776-1838) was also a talented artist known for his landscape work. Benjamin II exhibited at the Royal Academy and many of his works were engraved by Thales Fielding in aquatint. Barker's son, Thomas Jones Barker (1815-1882), followed his father and uncle into painting, studying at the studio of Horace Vernet in Paris. Many of Jones Barker's works were of a military nature, including Lord Clive's relief of Lucknow and The Allied generals before Sebastopol.