Born Marian (sometimes spelt Marion) Rennick, in London, the daughter of Charles Rennick, of England, she was educated at the Girls High School, Bayswater, England and in Germany; a lifelong painter, she studied painting at the National Gallery school beside Sir John Longstaff and Frederick McCubbin under George Frederick Folingsby.
On 7 June 1881 she married University of Melbourne mathematics professor Frederic Joy Pirani. They were living in the George Hotel, St Kilda when on 30 July 1881 he fell from his horse and died days later.
On 31 October 1888 at South Yarra she married ophthalmologist and publicist James Barrett, and became Lady Barrett when he was knighted in 1918. He was University of Melbourne vice-chancellor (1931), deputy chancellor (1934) and chancellor (1935-39. They lived with daughters Cara, Bertha and Jeannette and sons Keith (killed in WWI on 16 April 1917) and James, at Palmyra in Lansell Road, Toorak where Marion delighted in gardening and entertaining. Her painting subjects are mostly floral still life, amongst some landscapes.
She was a Foundation Member of the Committee of the Montagu Free Kindergarten and other charities and from 1912 served on the council of the Emily Mcpherson College of Domestic Economy. In 1945, Sir James William Barrett made a bequest to The University of Melbourne to provide a lecture on a subject of interest to Nursing and Medical professors, and in 1953 an inaugural Marian Barrett Lecture was delivered and since 1997, has become an annual event at the University of Melbourne.
E. Phillips Fox painted her portrait, the 1912 oil sketch for which is in the National Gallery of Australia collection.
She died of heart disease in May 1939 and was interred at the Brighton Cemetery in a private ceremony.
- Writers:
-
James McArdle
- Date written:
- 2023
- Last updated:
- 2023
