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Fryer, in 2 vols. 8vo. They comprise ' An Enquiry into the real and imaginary Ob- structions to the acquisition of the Aits in England in 1775/ 'An Account of the series of Pictures in the Great Room of the Society of Arts, by James Barry, R.A., 1783.' * A Letter to the President, Vice- presidents, and Members of the Society, 1793.' * A Letter to the Dilettanti Society respecting the obtension of certain matters essentially necessary for the improvement of public taste, and for accomplishing the original views of the Royal Academy/ 'Second edition, with matters appended re- lating to his expulsion from the Academy/ 1799. 'A Letter and Petition addressed to His Majesty, 1799/ His works were sold at Christie's in April 1807. Bidders mounted on the benches. His favourite ' Pandora,' though unfinished, fetched 230 guineas ; ' Venus rising from the Sea/ 100
Siineas; 'Adam and Eve,' 110 guineas, ut the 'Pandora,' when resold in 1846 to pay the expense of warehouse-room, fetched only llf guineas! In the 'Edinburgh Review' of 1811 there is an article on his works, attributed to Mr. Payne Knight.
BARRY, Sir Charles, Knt., R.A., architect. Born May 23, 1795. Son of a stationer in Bridge Street, Westminster. He was articled to a surveyor and architect in Lambeth. About the expiration of his articles his father died, and leaving him a little property, he determined to travel for improvement in his profession. He was a tolerable draftsman, and had exhibited his first drawing at the Royal Academy in 1812. In 1816, in his 22nd year, he started for Italy, and devoted himself to the care- ful study of the finest edifices of the Italian cities. In 1818 he extended his tour to Greece, and thence to Palestine and Egypt, returning to England in 1820. In 1822 he commenced his professional career, and while yet unknown obtained by competi- tion the erection of St. Peter's Churcn at Brighton. Some commissions followed from Manchester, where he also erected a church, and at Oldham another in 1822. His works soon made known his abilities, and professional employment increased rapidly. He was appointed architect to Dulwich College ; and in 1832 completed his first notable work in London, the Tra- vellers' Club, a building distinguished by the simple elegance of its proportions and of its ornamentations. In 1834 the Houses of Parliament were burnt down, and a new legislative palace was thrown open to competition, an opportunity of distinction which rarely falls to the architects of this country, fiarry entered the competition and was successful, and in 1837 commenced this great work, which will for ever give him a memory and a name in our metropolis. In the same year he was appointed to erect
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the Reform Club, followed by the College of Surgeons. He now stood at the head of his profession, and in 1840 was elected an associate, ana in 1842 full member of the Royal Academy. Simultaneously with the great works on which he was engaged, he erected several noble mansions — for Lord Tankerville, at Walton-on-Thames ; the Duke of Sutherland, at Trentham, Cliefden, and, in Scotland. Dunrobin Castle; and for the Earl of Ellesmere, Bridgewater House. St. James's. But the greater portion ol his active life was devoted to the Houses of Parliament, one of the most extensive and elaborate works of the time, both from its vast proportions and the amount of its decorative details. The House of Lords was completed and occupied for the session of 1847, and the House of Commons, with all the principal parts of the edifice, for the session of 1852, and the architect then received the honour of knighthood. His unremitting labours came to a sudden termination; he was seized with paralysis and died, before medical assistance reached him, at his house at Clapham, May 12. 1860. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, his funeral attended by numerous professional and personal friends. His art will always be measured by his great Gothic work, the Houses of Parliament— a work carried on with successful determination under many vexatious obstructions and difficulties. The noble river facade, the grand proportions of the Victoria Tower, the elegant lightness of the Clock Tower, added to the well- proportioned and decorated galleries and chambers of the interior, render this work one of the greatest architectural features of the Metropolis ; yet the less pretentious merits of some of his other works no less attest his genius and refined taste. The two fronts of the Travellers' Club— that in Carlton Gardens especially — and the en- trance front of Bndgewater House, are notable examples of his true feeling for Italian art. He was a fellow of the Royal Society and of the Institute of British Architects, and was awarded the gold medal of the Institute in 1850. He was also a member of several foreign academies, and in 1855 gained the gold medal for architecture at the Paris Exhibition. His ' Life and Works ' has been written by his son. the Rev. Alfred Barry.
BARRY, J., miniature painter. He first appears as an exhibitor at the Royal Academy in 1784, and continued for many years. In 1786 he contributed, in minia- ture, 'The Four Seasons.' In 1788, his health failing, he made a voyage to Lisbon, and on his retnrn, in 1789, exhibited ' Mrs. Crouch in Selima ; ' in 1792, a 'Bacchante ;' and was an occasional exhibitor up to 1819, when his name disappears.
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