Background
He was born in Liverpool, his father was a Portuguese vice-consul, and his mother half-French.
He was born in Liverpool, his father was a Portuguese vice-consul, and his mother half-French.
He attended Street Edward"s School, Oxford and later studied at Liverpool School of Art, Heatherley School of Fine Art and the Central School of Artist
Although always anglicising his first name, he disliked modern familiarity and preferred being known as Barbosa. He illustrated for Everybody"s Weekly and the Radio Times and produced his first book covers for London publishers. In 1928 he worked on the interior of Street Andrew"s Church, West Kirby, designing the organ case, pew fronts and six-foot candlesticks.
From 1930 he began working as a designer for theatre, working with Andre Charlot, Kenneth Duffield and Cecil Landauin.
At this time he also illustrated for Vogue, Harper"s Bazaar, The Sketch, The Bystander, Night and Day and the The Queen. Barbosa spent the Second World War in the Portuguese section of the Ministry of Information then returning to illustrating he worked for Moss Brothers during the 1950s he worked almost exclusively for American publishers and began his association with Georgette Heyer.
And later he undertook the refurbishment of the interior of Elizabeth Taylor"s yacht Kalizma.
His first successful exhibitions were in London where he was a founder member of the Pandemonium Group alongside Nicolas Bentley, Eliot Hodgkin and Victor Reinganum. He continued working until a few months before his death and won a Golden Clio award for British sherry label designs featuring portraits of the Duke of wellington and Edward Elgar.
He was obsessed with Royalty and amassed the finest collection of original photographs of members of European and Russian royal families from 1850 to 1914.
