John James Barralet

John James Barralet was born in 1747 to a French Family in Dublin. Barralet had joined two classes at The Dublin Society of Drawing schools aged seventeen and he was awarded premium in 1764. He was educated by James Mannin and was awarded prizes for both 'Drawing of human figures and heads' and 'Inventions in designs and patterns'. He specialised in landscapes, producing prosaic works. He was lauded for his figures, which were said to give a lively immediacy to his watercolours. His brother John Melchior Barralet was a teacher in London in The Royal Academy in 1770. He also had a brother Joseph Barralet. In June 1791, his drawings helped Benjamin Simpson win a competition to a design the gardens in Merrion Square. He exhibited three landscapes at the Royal Academy in 1770, and occasionally exhibited in succeeding years. He was employed in illustrating books on Irish Antiquities. In 1795 he emigrated to America, settling in Philadelphia. Barralet engraved a few plates, but more frequently produced designs for other engravers to execute. He worked briefly with the engraver Alexander Lawson. Barralet has been described as "a highly irritable and eccentric individual, very difficult to manage." He is anecdotally reported to have locked his two young sons in a closet so that they would not disturb him while he sketched the French general Jean Victor Marie Moreau, who was visiting Philadelphia at the time. Barralet died in Philadelphia on January 16, 1815.