Gilbert and Barnes

Introduction:

Recently sourced newspaper evidence strongly suggests "GILBERT and BARNES" to have been a partnership between itinerant profilist and mezzotint painter BURTON WRIGHT GILBERT (1790-1848) and EDWARD BARNES (1807-1873), a Lancashire-born theatre scenery painter and profilist. In 1825, travelling to various towns in Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire and finally Birmingham in March 1826, the partnership - according to their advertisements - was seemingly successful, with thousands of likenesses supposedly taken by the summer of 1825.

McKechnie however records only one bust-size work of mediocre quality. Painted on card with grey highlights, gum arabic "coarsely painted", was also used to indicate the lines of the sitter's coat. Signed in pencil  beneath a long, sloping bustline was "GILBERT and BARNES delint.". Newspaper records suggest the long bust-line may have been useful for an even longer signature, as initially there was a 3rd member of the partnership!

In the SHEFFIELD INDEPENDENT of the 20th of August 1825 "Messrs Gilbert, Rowlatt and Barnes, Professors of Profile Painting &c" offer likenesses "Frame and Glass included for 1 shilling". A week later they list towns already visited and appear again in the LIVERPOOL MERCURY in November of the same year.

Without Rowlatt - who remains an unknown figure - "GILBERT and BARNES" issued 3 further advertisements in the BIRMINGHAM CHRONICLE in February and March 1826. The absence of further advertising suggests the partnership was dissolved by spring that year.

In the CARLISLE JOURNAL of the 17th of December 1842, Burton Wright Gilbert professed "...twenty years' practice enables...[him]...to warrant an EXACT LIKENESS with splendid finish.". This indicates him working as a profilist at the time of the "GILBERT and BARNES" partnership, after which, between 1828 and his death in July 1848, he toured extensively in England, Scotland and Ireland.

Profilist Edward Barnes, born in Leyland, Lancashire in 1807, is recorded in the NORTHAMPTON MERCURY of the 5th of May 1832 in the same terms used earlier by "GILBERT and BARNES". He offered "...a striking likeness (with Frame and Glass inc.) for 1 SHILLING ONLY!!...by MR. BARNES ARTIST from Lord Street, Liverpool (last from Leicester).".

Three Barnes bust-size profiles recorded by McKechnie were neatly painted on card. Bronze highlights and gum arabic were skilfully applied. Bust-line terminations were long and sloping. Housed in papier mâché frames, the sitters were male and the work illustrated by McKechnie bore a partial handbill, the substance of which was akin to the wording of the newspaper advertisement.

The 1841-1871 Census returns locate Barnes in Knotty Ash, Liverpool, where he is recorded in turn a "Painter, Theatre Painter, Artist and Landscape Painter". So given his 'artistry', it's probable, as McKechnie herself suggests, that Edward Barnes is likely a prime candidate for 'Barnes' in the GILBERT and BARNES partnership.

Revised 2 March 2023 (Brian Wellings)