Henry Edridge was a landscape artist and portraitist who brought the delicacy of the miniature to his paintings of people. He drew his subject in soft lead pencil before applying watercolour in the miniaturist’s technique of stippling, focussed on the face and hands, with some washes or body colour to indicate dress and drapery. Edridge attended the Royal Academy Schools from 1784 where he made a number of copies of the works of Sir Joshua Reynolds.

This watercolour of Francis Barber is a copy of an original painting by Reynolds. Barber was born a slave in Jamaica. He was brought to England by Richard Bathurst whose son (of the same name) was a friend of Samuel Johnson. When Bathurst died, Barber was freed by the terms of his will and, following the death of Bathurst’s wife, was placed in the service of Johnson. Barber became Johnson’s secretary and valet and was much valued by Johnson who paid for his education and, on his death, made Barber his principal heir.

The painting provides a rare example of a black man being given the weight and dignity of a white sitter and Barber is depicted with great sensitivity. This is all the more significant given that the original version was probably painted in the 1770s, when the transatlantic slave trade was still in operation.