
In Tate Britain
Prints and Drawings Room
View by appointment- Artist
- James Barry 1741–1806
- Medium
- Etching, line engraving and aquatint on paper
- Dimensions
- Image: 454 × 372 mm
- Collection
- Tate
- Acquisition
- Purchased 1992
- Reference
- T06575
Display caption
Barry was one of several artists who took subjects from history in order to express a view about their own times. The meaning of such pictures becomes clear when the viewer knows the original story and the artist's intentions. Because of the smell from a wound in his foot Philoctetes was banished by Ulysses to Lemnos. Barry admired the politician George Savile who supported the American War of Independence. Like Philoctetes he was an 'outsider' among his countrymen. Barry dedicated this print to him. Blake's history paintings and Prophecies are rooted in a personal mythology quite unlike the classical Greek source of Barry's 'Philoctetes'. But Blake's work can still be 'read' like Barry's.
Gallery label, September 2004
Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.
Explore
- emotions, concepts and ideas(16,531)
-
- emotions and human qualities(5,349)
-
- vulnerability(311)
- animals: actions(644)
-
- death(72)
- bird - non-specific(466)
- tree(2,512)
- fine arts and music(3,769)
- bandage(43)
- arrow(58)
- actions: postures and motions(9,094)
-
- sitting(3,321)
- man(10,478)
- countries and continents(17,408)
- Lemnos(1)
- transport: water(8,036)
-
- ship, sailing(1,344)
You might like
-
James Barry Study for ‘Philoctetes on the Island of Lemnos’
1770 -
James Barry The Phoenix or the Resurrection of Freedom
1776–1808 -
James Barry William Pitt, Earl of Chatham
1778–1808 -
James Barry The Birth of Venus
1776–1808 -
James Barry The Distribution of Premiums in the Society of Arts
first published 1792 -
James Barry Sacra Christi Familia
c.1776–1808 -
James Barry The Temptation of Adam
1776–c.1790 -
James Barry The Thames, or the Triumph of Navigation
first published 1792 -
James Barry Orpheus
first published 1792 -
James Barry A Grecian Harvest Home
first published 1792 -
James Barry Lord Baltimore and the Group of Legislators
1793–1808 -
James Barry The Glorious Sextumvirate
1795 -
James Barry The Thames, or the Triumph of Navigation
first published 1792 -
James Barry King George and Queen Charlotte
first published 1792 -
James Barry The Distribution of Premiums in the Society of Arts
first published 1792