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Joseph Barney (1753 in Wolverhampton – 13 April 1832 in London), was a British painter and engraver. He is usually described as a pupil of Antonio Zucchi and Angelica Kauffman and as a fruit and flower painter to the Prince Regent.Samuel Redgrave. Dictionary of Artists of the English School: Painters, Sculptors, Architects, Engravers and Ornamentists. London, 1874; Dictionary of National Biography. Vol.3, 1885; Desmond, Ray, Ellwood, Christine. Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturists. London, 1994, p.74.
Two of his large-scale paintings — altarpieces The Deposition from the Cross (1781) and The Apparition of Our Lord to St Thomas (1784) are in Wolverhampton, and can be seen today at St John's church and at St Peter & St Paul's Roman Catholic church. During Barney's lifetime, his artistic achievements were respected and praised. In 1798, Stebbing Shaw, mentioning The Deposition from the Cross in his History of Staffordshire, called Barney a "native genius" of Wolverhampton.Stebbing Shaw. History of Staffordshire. Vol.2, part.1. 1798. P.164. In the collection of Wolverhampton Art Gallery, there is a pen and ink drawing, A Blind Musician, which gives some additional idea of quality and versatility of Barney's works.
During his lifetime, Barney exhibited more than hundred artworks at the Royal Academy and the British Institution. Their subjects demonstrate that the established description of Barney as "Fruit and Flower Painter" is inadequate. Only a small number of exhibited works are "flower pieces". The great majority of recorded Barney's works are religious, historic, literature, and genre paintings, which express his strong ambition to become a historic painter. While the Silver Palette of 1774 was given for his early flower designs, the Gold Palette was awarded to him in 1781 for his historical drawings.Wolverhampton Local Archives, DX-174/7; Wood, Henry Trueman. A History of the Royal Society of Arts. 1913. P.164
Matthew Boulton and Josiah Wedgwood both possessed mechanical paintings finished by Barney. Other customers were Mrs Elizabeth Montagu (1718–1800), Sir Sampson Eardley, 1st Baron Eardley (1744–1824); possibly, Beilby Porteus, the Bishop of Chester and a well-known abolitionist (1731–1809); Lord Macclesfield and, possibly, Isaac Hawkins Browne.Birmingham City Archives. MS3782, Matthew Boulton papers
In October 1793 he took the post of the Second Drawing Master for Figures at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and moved to Greenwich. He remained at the Academy until 1820.Cattermole F J. Records of the Royal Military Academy 1741-1892. Woolwich, 1892
The role of Drawing Master for Figures obviously influenced Barney's later subjects, increasingly sentimental, but still figurative, not "fruit and flowers". They also reveal his close collaboration with Francis Wheatley (1747–1801), Charles Turner (engraver) (1774–1857), William Hamilton (painter) (1751–1801), Thomas Gaugain (1756–1812). But, on the whole, his late works are of inferior quality in comparison with his early paintings. In 1796, a reviewer of the 1796 exhibition at the Royal Academy commented on Barney's Inside of a Stable: "We have seen a great many better things of this sort than this is - it wants effect and truth of colouring. - Apropos, where is Morland?" London Packet or New Lloyd's Evening Post. 16.05.1796.
Joseph Barney did not fulfil his artistic ambitions. His name is associated today with short-lived enterprise of mechanical paintings, a small number of "fruit and flowers" pieces, and cheap sentimental colour prints, if not practically forgotten. The present location of most of his large-scale historic and religious paintings is unknown. But their number and their titles which correspond to those by leading artists of that time indicate his sound presence in London artistic world of the late 18th-early 19th centuries. Barney's early altar pieces which survive in Wolverhampton, give a good idea about his strong artistic potential which was recognised and respected by his contemporaries.
Reporting Barney's death in April 1832, The Staffordshire Advertiser wrote: "On the 13th inst., at his house, Stanhope-Terrace, Regent's Park, London, Joseph Barney, Esq. died, aged 77. He was an eminent painter, and for more than 30 years drawing master at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. The altar pieces at St John's Church and at the Catholic Chapel, in Wolverhampton, of which he was native, formed lasting monuments of his skill as an artist."
2. Joseph (1783-after 1851). Became an artist and started to exhibit in 1817 from his father's address in Greenwich; in 1818 moved to 17, Great Smith Street, Westminster, and finally to Southampton, from where he exhibited until 1842. He was a drawing teacher, exclusively a fruit and flower artist, and in the late 1830s became a Fruit and Flower Painter to Queen Victoria. It may well be that some artworks by Joseph Barney-son have been ascribed to his father.
3. William Whiston, b.1785. Received artistic training from S. W. Reynolds. Later abandoned his artistic career, joined the army, and distinguished himself in the Peninsular War.
4. George Barney (1792–1862). Became a soldier and military engineer who also served in the Peninsular War and in the West Indies, and later took a significant place in the history of Australia.Jobst, Keith. The Barneys. 1835-1865. Brisbane, 1997.
5. Sophia, b.1793.
6. John Edward (1796–1855).
7. Ellen, b. 1799.
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