Background
He was born on 23 May 1795 in Bridge Street, Westminster, he was the fourth son of Walter Edward Barry (died 1805), a stationer, and Frances Barry née Maybank (died 1798).
( Charles Demuth (1883-1935) was born in Lancaster, Penns...)
Charles Demuth (1883-1935) was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, into a prominent family in the tobacco business. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and later at the Académie Colarossi and Académie Julian in Paris, where he was first exposed to the European avant-garde. Returning to America after his studies, he participated in the transmission of modern European ideas into American artalong with Georgia O'Keeffe, Demuth was a proponent of Precisionism, a movement that incorporated the clean lines and geometrical forms of Cubism and Futurism into depictions of the American landscape. Chimneys and Towers focuses on Demuth's late paintings of industrial sites in Lancaster. During this period he struggled with diabetes and painted little, but the powerful visual impact of the works he completed belies his diminishing physical strength. Depicting the warehouses and factories of the city's tobacco and linoleum industries in sharp, geometric forms, these paintings show an artist negotiating both artistic and personal identity, bringing to the depiction of his hometown the style of the American avant-garde that he helped create. While scholars have long recognized the importance of these works, Chimneys and Towers offers new perspectives on their initial critical reception, as well as a more complete understanding of the paintings' relationship to Demuth's native Lancaster. Betsy Fahlman also explores in depth the effects of Demuth's failing health on his art, offering previously unpublished correspondence that reveals the central role that Pennsylvania art collector Albert C. Barnes played in extending Demuth's life.
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He was born on 23 May 1795 in Bridge Street, Westminster, he was the fourth son of Walter Edward Barry (died 1805), a stationer, and Frances Barry née Maybank (died 1798).
In Rome and Florence he studied Renaissance architecture, and these investigations were to be of great importance in the development of his work.
Probably thanks to his fiancée's friendship with John Soane, Barry was recommended to the Church Building Commissioners, and was able to obtain his first major commissions building churches for them. These were in the Gothic Revival architecture style, including two in Lancashire, St. Matthew, Campfield, Manchester (1821–22), and All Saints' Church, Whitefield (or Stand) (1822–25). Barry designed three churches for the Commissioners in Islington: Holy Trinity, St. John's and St. Paul's, all in the Gothic in style and built between 1826 and 1828.
The next church he designed was St Andrew's Hove, East Sussex, in Waterloo Street, Brunswick, (1827–28); the plan of the building is in line with Georgian architecture, though stylistically the Italianate style was used, the only classical church Barry designed that was actually built. The Gothic Hurstpierpoint church (1843–45), with its tower and spire, unlike his earlier churches was much closer to the Cambridge Camden Society's approach to church design.
At this time, he tended to experiment with Northern Renaissance architecture, the most outstanding examples being the Jacobethan Highclere Castle, Hants.
(1842–c. 1850), and Free Cinquecento Halifax Town Hall (1859–62), the latter completed by his son, E. M. Barry
Barry's rich clients enabled him to produce buildings that were not only exceedingly grand, but opulently detailed, and some of his work tended to over-lavishness after 1840.
Following the destruction by fire of the old Houses of Parliament on 16 October 1834, a competition was held to find a suitable design, for which there were 97 entries. Finally, he won the commission in January 1836 to design the new Palace of Westminster.
Barry was appointed architect to the Dulwich College estate in 1830, an appointment that last until 1858.
His was a significant figure in garden-history: he placed sumptuous flower-gardens around the mansions he designed, thus replacing the subtle Georgian concept of the house set within a Picturesque landscape.
Barry's most celebrated building is the Palace of Westminster and Houses of Parliament (1835–60), the ingenious and complex plan of which is essentially Classical.
The importance of this vast building, however, lies in its Gothic Revival Picturesque composition and exquisite Perpendicular detail inside and out (mostly designed by A. W. N. Pugin).
Besides, he developed the Italian Renaissance garden style for the many gardens.
He was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1850, it was presented to him on 3 June by Thomas de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey, the President of the Institute.
( Charles Demuth (1883-1935) was born in Lancaster, Penns...)
Barry was an active fellow of the Royal Academy, and he was involved in revising the architectural curriculum in 1856.
He was an early riser, usually between four and six o'clock in the morning. He preferred science to literature.
Barry was engaged to Sarah Rowsell (1798–1882) in 1817, they married on 7 December 1822 and had seven children together. Four of Sir Charles Barry's five sons followed in his career footsteps.
