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  • J.M.W. Turner
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DON'T MISS

Exhibition

Turner & Constable: Rivals & Originals

Tate Britain
Until 12 Apr 2026
Exhibition

Theatre Picasso

Tate Modern
Until 12 Apr 2026
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James Barry

1741–1806

Study of a Nude Recumbent Woman
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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Rooms

33 artworks by James Barry
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Biography

James Barry (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", who emerged as one of the most important Irish artists. He was also notable as a profound influence on William Blake.

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Grand manner Neoclassicism

Artworks

Left Right

King Lear Weeping over the Dead Body of Cordelia

James Barry
1786–8

A Grecian Harvest Home

James Barry
first published 1792
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The Thames, or the Triumph of Navigation

James Barry
first published 1792

The Distribution of Premiums in the Society of Arts

James Barry
first published 1792

Elysium and Tartarus

James Barry
first published 1792
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Detail of the Diagorides Victors

James Barry
first published 1795
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Orpheus

James Barry
first published 1792
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The Thames, or the Triumph of Navigation

James Barry
first published 1792
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See all 38

Artist as subject

Inscription by Turner: Notes on Perspective and Art History, from Matthew Pilkington and James Barry

Joseph Mallord William Turner
c.1809
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Self-Portrait, Three Quarters to Left

James Barry
date not known
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