Colonel Isaac Barré

Gilbert Stuart

Brooklyn Museum photograph

Object Label

Ten years into his stay in London, having trained under the American-born master Benjamin West and established himself as a rising portraitist, Gilbert Stuart painted this striking likeness of the war hero and fiery Member of Parliament Colonel Isaac Barré. A leader of the opposition and a vehement advocate for the American colonies, Barré was known for his 1765 “Sons of Liberty” speech opposing the Stamp Act (which imposed taxes on the colonies without their consent). In this forceful portrait inspired by the works of the seventeenth-century Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck, Stuart employed heavy shadow to mask the deformed right side of Barré’s face, where the sitter had taken a bullet at the Battle of Quebec (1759) while serving under Major-General James Wolfe during the French and Indian War.

Caption

Gilbert Stuart American, 1755–1828. Colonel Isaac Barré, 1785. Oil on canvas, 35 13/16 x 27 3/4 in. (91 x 70.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Carll H. de Silver Fund, 16.25. No known copyright restrictions (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 16.25_SL3.jpg)

Gallery

Not on view

Collection

American Art

Title

Colonel Isaac Barré

Date

1785

Medium

Oil on canvas

Classification

Painting

Dimensions

35 13/16 x 27 3/4 in. (91 x 70.5 cm)

Signatures

Unsigned

Credit Line

Carll H. de Silver Fund

Accession Number

16.25

Rights

No known copyright restrictions

This work may be in the public domain in the United States. Works created by United States and non-United States nationals published prior to 1923 are in the public domain, subject to the terms of any applicable treaty or agreement. You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this work. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties, such as artists or artists' heirs holding the rights to the work. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. The Brooklyn Museum makes no representations or warranties with respect to the application or terms of any international agreement governing copyright protection in the United States for works created by foreign nationals. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

Have information?

Have information about an artwork? Contact us at

bkmcollections@brooklynmuseum.org.