(1769 - 1847) of Bath, painter, e. s. of Benjamin Barker (1720 - 93); m. 1803 Priscilla Jones; exh. RA between 1791 and 1829, and BI between 1801 and 1847.
1790 - 3 Leghorn, Florence (1791), Rome (by 24 Oct. 1791), Naples (1792), Paestum, Rome (by 2 Mar. 1793) [England Dec. 1793]
Thomas Barker went to Italy from Bath in 1790, accompanied by the young engraver John Hibbert, both being sponsored by Charles Spackman, the Bath coach builder who was Barker's patron.1 In a coach Spackman had provided, they went from Leghorn to Florence, where in 1791 they obtained permission, through Francesco Gianfigliazzi, to copy in the Uffizi.2 After a few months Barker went on to Rome. John Flaxman became a particular friend, and they were both members of the Society of English Art Students, a dining club which met on the first Saturday of the month. 'Hibberts' and 'Hibbert' is mentioned in Mrs Flaxman's diary in Rome on 24 October 1791 and 2 March 17933 and 'Hebbert' the engraver was listed in Rome as living in the Strada Croce (Rome List 1793).
Barker filled sketchbooks on his visits to churches and galleries; he also drew from nature, persisting 'in going out to sketch in the Campania in the fierce heat of the mid-day sun, until he was disabled by a 'coup de soleil''. Two sketchbooks of 1792 (BMPL) also contain drawings made in Naples, Pompeii and Paestum. Barker sent finished paintings to Spackman, including a Moonlight with Banditti (exhibited RA 1791) and a stylish Self-portrait with a view of Tivoli on his easel (Holburne of Menstrie Museum, Bath); The Bandits (Bristol) is signed and dated Rome 1793. By December 1793 Barker had returned to Bath, recalled by his patron Spackman, whose finances had begun to crumble.
1. See G.H. Loxton, Notes on the Barker Family, MSS (Bath Ref. Lib.). Barkers of Bath, exh. cat., Bath, [1986] (Hibbert's christian name given as Charles). 2. Borroni 1986, 82; 1991, 251, 258. 3. Mrs Flaxman's jnl.MSS 2.