Details of Sculptor

Surname

Barrett

Alternative Surname

First Name

James, of Norwich

Initial of Surname

B

Year of Birth/Baptism

1701/2

Flourished

1701/2-69

Year of Death

1769

Biographical Details

On 24 March 1733, Barrett, ‘Mason and Carver’, advertised in the Norwich Gazette that he had taken over the ‘stock and shop of Mr Augustine Curtis deceased Carver, at the White-Swan in St Peter’s Mancroft’. He stated that his work would be ‘performed well and as cheap as any other stone-cutter on this Side London’, and added that ‘For some Years he has designed Drawings, and carved for most of the Masters in this City’. Barrett signs the monument to his predecessors, Augustine Curtis I and II, at St Peter Mancroft (2). This unusual work is about 8 feet high and takes the form of a central Corinthian pillar with a curtain behind it and curtains supported by cherub-heads hanging to left and right. Gunnis noted that it is similar in design to the monument to Mrs Hodgson (†1743) at Dersingham, Norfolk, which was carved by Francis Stafford. When Barrett died, aged 68, in December 1769, a local newspaper suggested that his works would provide ‘lasting Evidence of his great Abilities in his Profession’ (Norwich Mercury, 23 December 1769).
Literary References: Gunnis 1968, 41; RG/JP, 1, 109v, 110
Archival References: GPC