The Phoenix or the Resurrection of Freedom

Barry, James (Irish painter, printmaker, and lithographer, 1741-1806, active in England)

The Phoenix or the Resurrection of Freedom

Date

1983

Authors

Barry, James (Irish painter, printmaker, and lithographer, 1741-1806, active in England)

Publisher

The Tate Gallery

Citation

William L. Pressly, 'James Barry: Artist as Hero', London: The Tate Gallery, 1983, p 73-5, no 21

Description

This print is a biting indictment on the condition of contemporary England. Inscribed in the lower margin is an address to Liberty who has expired in England only to be reborn in North America: 'O Liberty thou Parent of whatever is truly Amiable & Illustrious, associated with Virtue, thou hatest the Luxurious & Intemperate & hast sucessively abandon'd thy lov'd residence of Greece, Italy & thy more favor'd England when they grew Currupt & Worthless, thou hast given them over to chains & depondency & taken thy flight to a new people of manners simple & untainted.' Reconstructing the fragmented writing on the tombstone at the left, one reads the king's damning message: 'Upon pain of my displeasure death and Torture I prohibit my Subjects holding any Intercourse with those Audacious Assertors of human Rights on the other side of this Atlantic Given at our Palace.' The recomposed message on Britannia's bier is equally pointed: 'This Monument to the Memory of British Freedom a Currupt degenerate Nobility & Gentry, dissipated poor rapacious & dependent upon the Court'. At the right behind the image of Britannia, who died when freedom itself was extinguished, are the mourners Algernon Sydney, John Milton, Andrew Marvel, James Barry, and a seated John Locke. The first three men had all supported the Commonwealth (Sydney had even been executed for his beliefs), and Locke clutches his writings on government which also fostered republican virtues. Barry of course is the latest in this distinguished line of supporters of British liberties. The chained figure in front of the bier has a paper emerging from the back of his coat which alludes to the government's attempts at repression through violations of the Habeas Corpus Act. The numerous inscriptions make clear the role the ruling elite and the artistic establishment have played in debasing civilization in England. At the far left Father Time sprinkles flowers over the remains of those earlier civilizations of classical Athens, republican Rome, and Renaissance Florence in which liberty and the arts had for a time flourished together. Now Liberty, along with the Phoenix is reborn on top of the classical temple in North America, while the Three Graces dance along the shore.' (Pressly, 73-4)