Orpheus Instructing a Savage People in Theology and the Arts of Social Life

James Barry

plate dated May 1, 1791, issued 1792 · Etching and engraving; second state of three · Drawings and Prints

A skilled and inventive etcher, Barry was also one of eighteenth-century London’s leading history painters. Born near Cork, the young artist traveled to Italy for five years of study with the support of the philosopher Edmund Burke, a fellow Irishman. Once back in London, Barry joined the Royal Academy and, from 1777 to 1782, painted a series of large canvases to adorn the new Great Room at the Society of Arts, near the Strand. This etching, the first of three compositions devoted to the rise of ancient Greek culture and civilization, shows Orpheus, the inventor of music, playing for a rapt audience of "primitive" Thracians as he points to heaven as his source of inspiration.

Artist

James Barry

Date

plate dated May 1, 1791, issued 1792

Medium

Etching and engraving; second state of three

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Acquisitions Fund, 2014