John Barker (1707–1787)

Reynolds painted John Barker in a style characteristic of his middle period, when he was fully established as the leading British portraitist and President of the Royal Academy. Barker (1707–1787) was a country gentleman, and Reynolds positions him with the easy authority appropriate to his social station — the portrait combining personal likeness with the generalised dignity Reynolds theorised in his Discourses as the proper goal of portraiture. Reynolds's ability to make provincial landowners appear as Roman senators was central to his commercial success and to his argument that British painting had achieved the grandeur of European Old Master tradition.

Reynolds employs his characteristic compositional formula for male full or three-quarter-length portraits: the figure turned slightly from the picture plane, one hand positioned with sculptural ease, a neutral landscape or architectural setting in the background that avoids distracting from the sitter's presence. The face is the most carefully resolved area, the rest of the canvas handled with deliberate ease to focus attention on physiognomy and expression.