Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Barron, Hugh
BARRON, HUGH (d. 1791), portrait painter, a scholar of Sir Joshua Reynolds, was the son of an apothecary in Soho. In that genial environment he received his first impulses towards art. After leaving the studio of Reynolds he started for Italy by way of Lisbon. He stopped some time in that city and painted portraits. In 1771–2 he was in Rome. Returning to London he settled in Leicester Square, and exhibited some portraits at the Academy in 1782–3 and 1786. His later work did not fulfil the promise of his youth. Not greatly distinguished as a painter, he was a good violinist, and considered the best amateur performer of his time. He died in the autumn of 1791, aged about forty-five. There is a mezzotint by Valentine Green, after a portrait by Barron, of J. Swan.
[Füssli's Allgemeines Künstler-Lexikon, 1806; Edwards's Anecdotes of Painting, 1808; Pilkington's Dict. of Painters; Redgrave's Dict. of English School, 1879.]