The first painting,
Orpheus, seeks to represent the
mythical musician not in the quaint way that had become a commonplace of Western art, but "as he really was, the
founder of
Greek theology, uniting in the same character, the legislator, and the poet, as well as the musician." Here Orpheus, messenger of the gods, instructs the Greeks through music. Their condition exposes Barry's view of the
state of nature as a miserable and savage condition. In the background of the painting,
Ceres is coming to the earth for the first time. In front of Orpheus, to illustrate his lessons, are items such as
papers, an
egg, and a
bound lamb. Orpheus' pose in this painting is based on traditional representations of
John the Baptist. In the second painting,
A Grecian Harvest Home, or Thanksgiving to the Rural Deities, a group of young people
dance around a garlanded double statue of
Silvanus and
Pan. Other harvest festival activities are depicted behind them, along with instruments of the harvest such as a
threshing floor and ox-drawn cart. In the top left, deities such as Ceres, Pan, and
Bacchus gaze benevolently down on the celebration. Barry writes: "I have endeavoured to introduce whatever could best point out a state of happiness, simplicity, and fecundity, in which, though not attended with much eclat, yet, perhaps, the duty we owe to our God, to our neighbor, and ourselves, is much better attended to in this, than in any other stage of our progress...". The wrestlers and other athletes in the middle distance show the
conflict undergirding human progress, a subject which will be picked back up in the third painting. The Christianizing narrative continues here: a mother and children, based on iconography of
Mary with the
infant Christ and John the Baptist, is present under a
peacock representing
immortality This third painting,
Crowning the Victors at Olympia, is a crowded composition that depicts a moment at the
Olympic Games when the victors would process before the
judges, who would crown them with
wreaths of olive. Near the throne of the judges, a
scribe records the names of the victors. There appears a runner, a
pankratist, and a victor at the
cestus, as well as
Hiero II of Syracuse in his chariot;
Pindar leads the chorus. Carried on the shoulders of the boxer is an aging former athlete, who has imparted his knowledge to a new generation. Statesman such as
Pericles and
Cimon appear as spectators, along with figures such as
Socrates,
Anaxagoras,
Euripides and
Herodotus. It should be mentioned that Barry associated the judges of the ancient Olympics with the
papacy, and that there is a Catholic undertone to this painting: the focus shifts through the first three paintings from John the Baptist to Christ to the papacy, depicting this succession as an inevitable fact of human progress. Barry begins his
exegesis of the fourth painting,
Commerce, or the Triumph of the Thames, by noting that "The practice of personifying rivers, and representing them by a genius, or intelligence, adapted to their particular circumstances, is as ancient as the arts of poetry, painting and sculpture." Here, he depicts "
Father Thames" holding a compass, carried along the river by Britain's
great navigators, depicted as
Tritons.
Nereids, depicted in attitudes ranging from flippant to lascivious, conclude the train, showing the frivolity of many commercial matters; above Father Thames is
Mercury, personifying Commerce. The fifth painting,
The Distribution of Premiums in the Society of Arts, dramatizes the act of
patronage. Barry depicts many contemporary artists and intellectuals, including
Samuel Johnson and Barry's own friend and patron
Edmund Burke. Barry takes the opportunity in his book to praise those who have helped him in his career, and to expound his own ideal system of patronage. The sixth painting,
Elysium, or the State of Final Retribution, Barry brings together "those great and good men of all ages and nations, who were cultivators and benefactors of mankind." On a pedestal at the left is a
pelican, which according to legend rips her own breast open to feed her young, here used as a metaphor for artistic labors but elsewhere frequently found in Catholic contexts. ==Gallery==