Jupiter and Juno on Mount Ida

Barry's first state of Jupiter and Juno on Mount Ida was executed in etching and aquatint and published by the artist in 1777. The composition relates to the now lost early painting of the subject exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1773 (see Pressly, History Paintings, no. 11). Barry later revisited the plate, removing the aquatint and substantially remodeling the figures and background with etching and engraving circa 1790. Impressions of both states are extremely rare. Pressly records two impression of the first state (Ashmolean, Oxford; and British Museum); and two of the second state (British Museum; and Victoria & Albert Museum, London). According to our records, only one example, a first state impression, has appeared at auction in the last thirty years.
Nicholas Stogdon is currently preparing a new catalogue raisonné of the printed oeuvre of James Barry, including some revised and previously unrecorded states. He considers the present example an impression of the third state (of four). We are grateful to him for sharing this information prior to publication.