Benjamin Barker (Pontypool 1776-1838 Totnes)
Lot 137

Benjamin Barker (Pontypool 1776-1838 Totnes)

A wooded river landscape with drovers and their cattle by a watermill

Closed8 July 2011

Price Realised

GBP 3,750

More Information

How to sell

Benjamin Barker (Pontypool 1776-1838 Totnes)
A wooded river landscape with drovers and their cattle by a watermill
signed and dated 'B. Barker pinxt 1807' (lower right, on the rock)
oil on canvas, unframed
46 x 68 7/8 in. (116.8 x 174.8 cm.)

Sir John Gladstone, 1st Bt., (1764-1851) and by descent to his eldest son,
Sir Thomas Gladstone, 2nd Bt., (1804-1889), older brother of William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), British Prime Minister (1868-74, 1880-85, 1886, and 1892-94), and by descent at Fasque, Kincardineshire.
Fasque Sale; Christie's, London, 7 May 2008, lot 149 (£7,500 to the present owner).

Specialist note

Benjamin Barker was the second son of Benjamin Barker Snr. (c.1720-1793) and younger brother of Thomas Barker (1769-1847). Benjamin West visited Bath in 1807 and commented that 'The two Barkers [are] very ingenious;... Benjamin, the younger brother, is the better landscape painter' (J. Farington, vol.VIII, 10 November 1807). Benjamin Barker II concentrated on landscape painting, and made sketching tours for the material for his pictures in North Wales, Yorkshire, Kent, Dorset and Devon between 1800 and 1815. He exhibited his first work at the British Institution in 1806, and exhibited there regularly until 1838, as well as at the Royal Academy.