Foxhounds and a Fox Terrier by a kennel

WRIGHT BARKER R.B.A.

1863-1941 

English School 

Oil on canvas, signed and dated 1889

Foxhounds and a Fox Terrier by a kennel 

92 x 122 cms

36 1/4 x 48 ins

Overall framed size 110.4 x 141 cms

                                43½ x 55½ ins

Sometimes known as John Wright Barker, this artist was a highly proficient painter who depicted dogs, – both domestic and sporting - horses, hunting scenes, highland cattle, birds and occasionally landscapes and portraits. He also occasionally produced bronzes, one of which was of the champion race horse St Simon.

He was born in Bradford to parents who worked in the textile industry and it is known that their son was initially being employed in the same work as he is recorded as working in the weft room of a worsted mill. However, in 1885 he left his home in Yorkshire and moved to Edwinstowe in Derbyshire.

 The reasons for this are not known and as there are only sketchy records of him receiving formal academic training as a pupil from a well-known artist, one can only surmise that there must have been a driving ambition on his part to become a painter. The family home was not far from the Bradford Art School so possibly he gained some tuition there. In a newspaper obituary to Wright Barker, it states that he was painting when young in Bradford, had joined the recently founded Bradford Art Guild and had three works in the Guild’s first exhibition in 1884. His name is also mentioned in the list of artists associated with the Académie Julian in Paris, an institution with connections to Matisse, Gauguin and Fernand Léger.

The census of 1891 has his profession given as ‘artist’ when he was living at the Beeches, Ollerton near Newark and this is the address from which he sent his first painting which was accepted for inclusion in the Royal Academy exhibition of that year. The title was In forest’s depths unseen and was followed by twenty-one other works shown there between 1891 and 1904. Apart from these RA exhibits, throughout his career he also showed twenty-eight at the Royal Society of British Artists, four at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool and others at the Royal Scottish Academy, Manchester City Art Gallery, Royal Society of Artists and Birmingham and Nottingham Museum and Art Gallery. Some other titles include: The day before the Fair; A moorland incident; My children and their pets; The shearer; and Full Cry

Barker was as astute observer of the animals and subjects which he portrayed on canvas and his palette was rich in tone and depth with bold and confident brushstrokes. They lack the sentimentality of the earlier Victorian Landseer inspired artists and his working dogs, including hounds, are seen in natural poses. It is clear that Barker also enjoyed painting packs of hounds in Sherwood Forest and his fine work “Rufford Hunt Hounds in Kennel” is certainly comparable to examples by John Emms or John Sargeant Noble. 

His work became popular with the public and he gained many commissions, particularly of dogs and horses. One of the most famous of these occurred in1905 at Rufford Abbey when he was commissioned to portray, in life size, Caesar, a wire haired fox terrier and favourite dog that belonged to King Edward V11. Caesar was seen as an almost constant companion to the King and when the latter died in 1912, the dog followed behind the carriage bearing the coffin. Other influential commissions included Lord Barnby of Blyth, the Duke and Duchess of Portland and the Duke of Peñaranda.

Although Wright Barker is most renowned for the portrayal of animals, he did undertake human portraits also, one example being Dr Frank Pervaud which is now in the collection of the Central Manchester University Hospital and Albert Edward Forbes now in Middlesborough Town Hall. Perhaps the most striking example though is his Circe, who in Greek mythology was the daughter of the sun god Helios and the sea nymph Perse. It is infused with the Pre-Raphaelite sensibility and somewhat in the manner of a Sir John Poynter or Alma Tadema and shows the sorceress on marble steps surrounded by lions and wolves. He gave the painting to the Cartwright Hall Art Gallery in Bradford where it remains until this day. Other museums and institutions which hold examples of his work include: Mercer Art gallery in Harrogate, Ferens Art Gallery, Mansfield District Council and the Kirklees Museum.

This success resulted in financial reward and by 1901 he was employing two domestic servants. He had married Ellen Mary Alcock in 1892 and she was the daughter of a farmer who had almost 500 acres at Tuxford and some of Wright’s paintings almost certainly depict the life of the farm there.

At about the time of the outbreak of the Great War, their family, which now comprised also four children, moved to Harrogate where they remained until his death on 10^th March 1941 and he is buried in the town. He had a son and three daughters, the third of whom became an artist, writer of books about animals and illustrator. In his later years in Harrogate he turned his attention to picture dealing

Bibliography:

The Dictionary of British Artists 1880-1940, J. Johnson and A. Greutzner

The Dictionary of British Equestrian Artists, Sally Mitchell

The Dictionary of Victorian Painters, Christopher Wood

Dog Painting 1840-1940, William Secord

Dog Painting; The European Breeds – William Secord

Dictionary of British Sporting Painters – Sydney H Paviere

Dictionary of British Animal Painters – J C Wood

Dictionary of Bird Painters of the World – Christine E Jackson

Dictionary of British Artists 1900-1950 – Grant M Waters

Dictionary of Yorkshire Artists – Harry Turnbull

Edwinstowe Historical Society