Thomas Barker (painter)

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Thomas Barker , also called Barker of Bath (born May 1767 in Trosnant, Pontypool , Monmouthshire , Wales, † December 11, 1847 in Bath ) was an English painter .

Thomas Barker: Self-Portrait , around 1800/1805

Barker was the son of the animal painter Benjamin Barker († 1793) and brother of the landscape painter Benjamin Barker (1776-1838). Barker received painting lessons from his father at an early age. The resulting early works by Barker drew the auctioneer Charles Spackman's attention to his talent. He hired him as an apprentice and Barker learned to copy mainly from Dutch masters (including Meindest Hobbema ). But Barker also made impressive copies of Thomas Gainsborough .

At the age of 23, Barker went to Italy in 1790 and stayed there for three years. Back in Great Britain he immediately made his artistic and financial breakthrough with his genre paintings. His pictures (including Die Zigeunerin ) were so popular that they were reproduced on a wide variety of everyday objects, such as porcelain.

He found his own style very late and did some impressive work (Teufelstisch in the Hampton Rocks near Bath ). Barker was actually regularly represented in the exhibitions of the Royal Academy of Arts from 1791 to 1829.

Barker had eight children. Four of his sons also became painters: Thomas Jones Barker , Benjamin Barker (1817–1889), John Joseph Barker (1824–1904) and Octavius ​​William Barker (* 1826), who later also drew attention to himself as a forger of his father's works. The organ builder Charles Spackman Barker (1804–1879) was his nephew.

Works (selection)

Thomas Barker: Hampton Rocks, Morning
  • The Sand Maiden, 1797, canvas, 152 × 117 cm, Bath, Victoria Art Gallery.
  • The wood collector with dog, around 1790–91, canvas, 239 × 147 cm, Raby Castle, Lord Barnard Collection.
  • The Wood Collector with Dog, around 1786, canvas, 236 × 148 cm, London, Tate Gallery.
  • The wood collector with a dog, c. 1790–91, canvas, 236 × 150 cm, Kilkenny, Smithwick Collection.
  • The Artist's Wife, around 1803, canvas, 76 × 64 cm, Bath, Holburne of Menstrie Museum of Art.
  • In a Mill, 1807, canvas, 103 × 66 cm, Oberlin (Ohio), Allen Memorial Art Museum.
  • Landsdown Market, 1812, canvas, 104 × 76 cm, London, Victoria and Albert Museum.
  • Self-portrait, around 1796, canvas, 76 × 63 cm, London, Tate Gallery.
  • Self-portrait, 1793, canvas, 79 × 65 cm, Bath, Holburne of Menstrie Museum of Art.
  • Self-portrait with Charles Spackman, canvas, 132 × 160 cm, Bath, Victoria Art Gallery.
  • Livestock market, canvas, 89 × 188 cm, Cardiff, National Gallery of Wales.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/speel/paint/tbarker.htm
personal data
SURNAME Barker, Thomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bath, Barker of
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English painter
DATE OF BIRTH May 1767
PLACE OF BIRTH Trosnant, Pontypool , Monmouthshire
DATE OF DEATH December 11, 1847
Place of death Bath