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not appear what duties, were attached. The last 10 years of his life were passed at Westbourne Green. There he had painted some of his best works, and died May 29, 1784, and was buried at Faddington Church. His family endured much distress, and after his death were pensioners of the Royal Academy.

He became a painter by the force of his own genius; he was his own teacher. His pencil was rapid, his touch firm and cha- racteristic. He represented English scenery in its true freshness and richness, excelling in the verdure peculiar to spring. His distances were very successful; his effects good. He painted animals in a spirited manner; sometimes they were introduced into his pictures by Sawrey Gilpin. In his early manner he was heavy, but improved in his later pictures. Some of his works have not stood well from the colours he employed. His studies from nature, made with a black-lead pencil, are excellent, and his drawings in water-colour are painted with great skilL Several etchings by his hand are also known — done in a spirited manner. He enjoyed great reputation in his lifetime, which his works have not since maintained.

BARRET, G eorob, water-colour painter. Son of the preceding. His life commenced under difficulties, which he encountered with patient exertion. He appears as an exhibitor at the Academy in 1800— * Rocky Scene* and * Morning '— and became celebrated for his water-colour paintings. He excelled in his poetic treat- ments of sunrise and sunset, the effects of moonlight, and in his truly classic and poetic compositions. He was, on the foundation of the Water-Colour Society in 1804, one of its first members, and was a constant and large contributor to their exhibitions. He laboured incessantly at his art, and striving rather for excellence than gain, only earned enough to meet the daily wants of his family. The long illness and eventual loss of his son added to his troubles and accelerated his own death, which took place in 1842, when a subscrip- tion was opened for his family. He pub- lished, in 1840, * The Theory and Practice of Water-colour Painting elucidated in a series of Letters.'

BARRET, Miss M.. water-colour painter. Was the sister of the foregoing. She was a pupil of Mrs. Mee, and com- menced art as a miniature painter, exhibit- ing at the Royal Academy in 1797 and the two following years. She also painted birds, fish, and still-life, and in 1823 was admitted a member of the Water-Colour Society, and was a constant exhibitor up to 1836, at which time she died. She resided with her brother.

BARRET, J., landscape painter. 26

Brother of the above. He practised as a water-colour painter, sometimes in body colour, and was an occasional exhibitor at the Academy from 1785 to 1800.

BARRET, Ranblagh, copyist Was much employed by Sir Robert Walpole and others, and excelled in his power of copying, especially from the works of Rubens. He died m 1768, and his pictures were sold by auction in the December of that year.

BARRON, Hugh, portrait painter. Born in London. Son of an apothecary in Soho. He became a member of the Incorporated Society, and a pupil of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and on leaving him practised for some time as a portrait painter in London, exhibiting at the Spring Gardens Exhibitions in 1766-67 and 1768. About 1770 he started for Italy * by sea. Stopping some time at Lisbon he painted some portraits there, and in 1771 and 1772 was in Rome. He soon after returned to London, settled in Leicester Square, and exhibited some portraits at the Academy in 1782-83 and 1786. He died in the autumn of 1791, aged about 45. He gave as a boy great promise of future excellence, which he failed to realise. His manner was weak; his paintings but feeble imitations of his great master. He had, however, great musical talent— was esteemed the first amateur violinist of his day — and probably to this talent, and to his gentlemanly manners, owed his employ- ment as a painter.

BARRON, William Augustus, land- scape painter. Younger brother of the above. Was pupil of William Tomkins, A.R A. In 1766 he gained a premium at the Society of Arts. He practised land- scape painting and taught drawing. He was an exhibitor of landscapes, chiefly views, at the Academy from 1774 to 1777- His view of ' Wanstead House ' has been engraved by Picot, and some other of his views in Essex have been engraved. Like his brother, he was distinguished as a musical amateur; and gaining the notice of Sir Edward Walpole, he gave him an appointment in the Exchequer, upon which he quitted his profession. • BARRY. James, R.A., history painter. Born at Cork, October 11. 1741. His father was a bricklayer ana builder, and afterwards became a coasting trader and the keeper of a small public-house, called 'Cold Harbour/ on the quays at Cork. He was intended for the coasting trade, but became disgusted after two or three voyages. His early education was not deficient, and of drawing he first showed some art talent by painting his father's sign of ' The Neptune, 7 a ship of that name on one side and the neathen god on the other. Then, permitted to follow his own