George Barret (1732-1784) landscape painter. Born in Dublin. Lived in London from 1762 and worked with Sawrey Gilpin (1733-1807). Founder member of the Royal Academy. Painted landscapes with figures and horses. His son, George Jr (1767-1842) was a founder member of the Old Water-Colour Society. Ruskin refers to George Barret in The Art of England and states:
the old water-colour room at that time, adorned with the complete year's labour of Fielding, Robson, De Wint, Barret, Prout and William Hunt, presented an agregate of unaffected pleasantness and truth, the like of which, if you could now see, after a morning spent among the enormities of luscious and exotic art which frown or glare along your miles of exhibition wall, would really be felt by you to possess the charm of a bouquet of bluebells and cowslips, amidst a prize of cactus and orchid from the hothouses of Kew. ( Works, 33.374)