George Barret Sr. RA (1728/32–1784)

• Was an Irish landscape artist known for his oil paintings and watercolours.
• Born in Dublin, the son of a cloth merchant.
• By 1747 he had started learning to draw at Robert West's academy, and later studied under James Mannin.
• After completing his studies he taught drawing at the Academy. • He left Ireland in 1762 to establish himself as an artist in London.
• He exhibited at the Society of Artists of Great Britain and was able to gain patronage from many leading art collectors.
• Barrett with other members left the Society in 1768 to found the Royal Academy, where he continued to exhibit until 1782.
• While he earned considerable wealth from his paintings, he has been described as being "feckless" with money.

• He was helped in 1782 by Edmund Burke, with whom he had become friends when Burke attended Trinity College, Dublin.

• On Burke's recommendation he obtained the appointment of master painter of Chelsea Hospital, a post he held until his death in 1784. 

• His widow and children were left destitute, but the Royal Academy granted her a pension of thirty pounds a year.

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