Young Man Portrait Captain Barneby

Sir Martin Archer Shee He was born in Dublin, of an old Irish family, but Martin Shee nevertheless studied art in the Dublin Society and came to London. There in 1788, he was introduced by William Burke to Joshua Reynolds, on whose advice he studied in the schools of the Royal Academy. He was chosen an associate of the Royal Academy in 1798, and in 1800 he was made a Royal Academician.

Shee’s portraits were in league with such contemporaries as Thomas Lawrence, John Hoppner, Claude Phillips, Jackson and Henry Raeburn.
The earlier portraits of the artist are carefully finished, easy in action, with good drawing and excellent discrimination of character. In addition to his portraits, he executed various subjects and historical works.

In 1830, Shee was chosen president of of the RoyalAcademy, and shortly afterwards he received a knight-hood. Shee’s artwork is collected by many world renowned museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Royal Academy Collection in London.

This portrait of Captain Barneby, when he was still a young man, shows him in the uniform of the Grenadier, or Senior, Company of the Hereford Militia.