James Barry (painter)

James Barry
Barry, Self-portrait, c. 1775
Born	(1741-10-11)11 October 1741 Cork, Ireland
Died	22 February 1806(1806-02-22) (aged 64) London, England
Resting place	St Paul's Cathedral, London
Nationality	Irish
Education	John Butts
Known for	Painting, drawing, portraits and landscapes and for being a patron of Edmund Burke
Notable work	The Progress of Human Culture (1783) Baptism of the King of Cashel (1762) Jupiter and Juno on Mount Ida (1773) Ulysses and his companions escaping from Polyphemus (1776) King Lear Weeping over the Dead Body of Cordelia (1788)
Movement	Neoclassicism, Romanticism
Family	James Barry (surgeon)

James Barry RA (11 October 1741 – 22 February 1806) was an Irish painter, best remembered for his six-part series of paintings entitled The Progress of Human Culture in the Great Room of the Royal Society of Arts in London. Because of his determination to create art according to his own principles rather than those of his patrons, he is also noted for being one of the earliest romantic painters working in Britain, though as an artist few rated him highly until the fully comprehensive 1983 exhibition at the Tate Gallery led to a reassessment of this "notoriously belligerent personality",^[1] who emerged as one of the most important Irish artists. He was also notable as a profound influence on William Blake.