Sir John Barrow, 1st Bt

This portraitback to top

The miniature shows Barrow aged about 30 and may therefore have been painted on his return from the Macartney Embassy to China in 1794 and before his journey to South Africa in 1797. His marriage to Anna Maria Trüter took place in 1799 and the couple returned to England after the Peace of Amiens in 1803. The style of miniature painting, with its thin cross-strokes in the hair and the long nose, is characteristic of Andrew Plimer, but the portrait cannot be attributed to Plimer with any certainty.

Physical descriptionback to top

Head and shoulders to right in bluish-green coat, white stock, dark hair.

Provenanceback to top

Painted in about 1795 and in the collection of Lady Barrow; given to the NPG by her younger son, Colonel John Barrow FRS, FSA, FRGS, in 1887 at the suggestion of his friend Stephen Pearce, painter of 'The Arctic Council 1851'.

Exhibitionsback to top

'Cumbrian Characters: an Exhibition of Famous People of the Lake District', Abbot Hall Art Gallery, July-August 1968 (43).


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Walker, Regency Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, 1985, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.

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