The Thames, or the Triumph of Navigation
Barry based this print on one of the paintings he made to adorn the Great Room of London's Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. The image centers on a personification of the Thames who rides in a vessel that moves away from the English coast as Mercury, the god of Commerce, flies overhead. Modern figures and objects elaborate the allegory, with navigational instruments invented or improved by Englishmen guiding the Thames, who is propelled by the illustrious seamen Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Drake and Captain James Cook. Nereids swim alongside carrying the manufactures of the Midlands, to be dispersed to the four principal trading continents. In typical individualistic fashion, Barry inserted a portrait of his friend the musician Dr. Charles Burney amidst the nereids, to remind viewers of the need for a national school of music. The first state of this work was printed and published by Barry in 1792; this example of the third state dates to 1801-2 and is identified by the addition of a naval tower at right.
Artwork Details
- Title: The Thames, or the Triumph of Navigation
- Artist: James Barry (Irish, Cork 1741–1806 London)
- Date: 1792–1801
- Medium: Etching with engraving; second state of five
- Dimensions: Plate: 16 5/16 × 19 7/8 in. (41.5 × 50.5 cm)
- Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Purchase, Friends of Drawings and Prints Gifts, 2020
- Object Number: 2020.28
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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James Barry
1792, printed after 1806
James Barry
William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham
1778
James Barry
Michelangelo Buonarroti
1801
James Barry
1778–90
Multiple artists/makers
1792
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