James Barry
, Irish, 1741-1806
Title
Self-Portrait as TimanthesDatec.1780-1803
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions
76 × 63 cm
Credit LinePurchased, 1934
Object numberNGI.971
DescriptionThis half-length self-portrait is based on a description by Pliny the Elder of a lost painting by the ancient Greek artist Timanthes. Barry initially used this image in 1780 as the source for his representation of Timanthes in his mural design for the great room at the Society of Arts in London. Over 20 years later, however, when invited by the Society to provide a self-portrait to be reproduced in engraved form as the frontispiece for a volume of the Society’s transactions, Barry proposed the same portrait. His friends, the artist claimed unconvincingly, thought that 20 years on he still looked as he did in the portrait. Though he draws on a classical source, Barry presents himself in a Romantic guise, his expression intense, his hair tousled and his attire informal. He holds aloft a painting in which satyrs gaze in fear at a Cyclops, the one-eyed giant who, according to Homer, devoured human flesh. Their alarm is accentuated by a jagged tree stump and active volcano clearly delineated against the skyline. Behind the artist is the base of the famous Hellenistic statue the ‘Laocoön’, which represents Hercules crushing the serpent of envy. Barry’s deliberate placement of himself between this statue, a cast of which he kept in his studio, and the painting was intended to reflect his perseverance in the face of adversity.
March 2016
ProvenanceChristie's, 1807, Artist's Sale, lot 98; bought by Mrs Bulkey; Frank W. Collings; Captain R. Langton Douglas; purchased, Captain R. Langton Douglas, 1934 Exhibition HistoryEnglish Taste in the Eighteenth Century from the Baroque to the Neoclassic, Royal Academy, London, 1955-1956
The Romantic Movement, Tate Gallery, London, 1959
Centenary Exhibition 1864-1964, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 1964
Irish Portraits 1660-1860, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin; National Portrait Gallery, London; Ulster Museum, Belfast, 1969-1970
Painting in England and Ireland 1700-1900, Marist Hall, Dundalk, 1970
Aspects of Irish Art, Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Ohio; Toledo Museum of Arts, Ohio; St Louis Art Museum, Missouri, 1974
La peinture britannique de Gainsborough à Bacon, Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux, 1977
James Barry: The Artist as Hero, Tate Gallery, London, 1983
Face to Face: Three Centuries of Artists' Self-Portraiture, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 1994-1995
James Barry (1741-1806): The Great Historical Painter, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, 22 October 2005 - 4 March 2006
Citizens and Kings, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 2 October 2006 - 8 January 2007
Lines of Vision. Irish Writers at the National Gallery of Ireland, 8 October 2014 —12 April 2015
Label TextBarry initially used this portrait, derived from a classical text, in 1780 as the source for his representation of Timanthes in a mural at the Society of Arts in London. Over twenty years later, however, when invited by the Society to provide a self-portrait for reproduction, he proposed the same image. In the picture, he holds aloft a painting in which satyrs gaze in fear at a Cyclops. Barry’s deliberate placement of himself between this painting and a statue of Hercules crushing the serpent of Envy was intended to reflect his own perseverance in the face of adversity.