Mount Ida." His [v.03 p.0445] "Death of General Wolfe," in which the
British and French soldiers are represented in very primitive costumes, was
considered as a falling-off from his great style of art. His fondness for
Greek costume was assigned by his admirers as the cause of his reluctance
to paint portraits. His failure to go on with a portrait of Burke which he
had begun caused a misunderstanding with his early patron. The difference
between them is said to have been widened by Burke's growing intimacy with
Sir Joshua Reynolds, and by Barry's feeling some little jealousy of the
fame and fortune of his rival "in a humbler walk of the art." About the
same time he painted a pair of classical subjects, Mercury inventing the
lyre, and Narcissus looking at himself in the water, the last suggested to
him by Burke. He also painted a historical picture of Chiron and Achilles,
and another of the story of Stratonice, for which last the duke of Richmond
gave him a hundred guineas. In 1773 it was proposed to decorate the
interior of St Paul's with historical and sacred subjects; but the plan
fell to the ground, from not meeting with the concurrence of the bishop of
London and the archbishop of Canterbury. Barry was much mortified at the
failure, for he had in anticipation fixed upon the subject he intended to
paint--the rejection of Christ by the Jews when Pilate proposes his
release. In 1773 he published _An Inquiry into the real and imaginary
Obstructions to the Acquisition of the Arts in England_, vindicating the
capacity of the English for the fine arts and tracing their slow progress
hitherto to the Reformation, to political and civil dissensions, and lastly
to the general direction of the public mind to mechanics, manufactures and
commerce. In 1774 a proposal was made through Valentine Green to Reynolds,
West, Cipriani, Barry, and other artists to ornament the great room of the
Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce in the
Adelphi with historical and allegorical paintings. This proposal was at the
time rejected by the artists themselves; but in 1777 Barry made an offer to
paint the whole on condition of being allowed the choice of his subjects,
and being paid by the society the expenses of canvas, paints and models.
His offer was accepted, and he finished the series of pictures at the end
of seven years to the entire satisfaction of the members of the society,
who granted him two exhibitions, and at