Thomas Barker of Bath, British 1769-1847- The shepherdess; oil on canvas, 59.6 x 47.5 cm. Provenance: with Sara Cullinan Gallery, Swaffham.; Anon. sale, Sotheby’s, London, 29 September 1993, lot 528. Note: Barker of Bath was particularly...

Thomas Barker of Bath, British 1769-1847- The shepherdess; oil on canvas, 59.6 x 47.5 cm. Provenance: with Sara Cullinan Gallery, Swaffham.; Anon. sale, Sotheby’s, London, 29 September 1993, lot 528. Note: Barker of Bath was particularly celebrated as a painter of landscapes and scenes of rural life. Many of his paintings exhibit similarities to those of his contemporaries such as George Morland (1763-1804) and his more expansive landscapes generally gesture towards the influence of earlier classical landscape artists of whom Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) was a leading figure. The present work, however, is unusual for the artist. Whereas his figures are typically relegated to small-scale staffage within his landscapes, here he assigns the shepherdess the central focus of the scene, with the scenery behind very much secondary in importance.
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