Thomas Jones Barker (1815–1882) was an English painter born at Bath and educated by his father. In 1834, at age nineteen, he went to Paris to study under the French artist Horace Vernet. During his time in Paris he exhibited several historical paintings for which he received gold medals from the French government. In 1840 he painted The Bride of Death for Princess Marie, the youngest daughter of King Louis Philippe, and for this he received the decoration of the Legion of Honor. The painting tells the sad story of a young woman found dead on the eve of her wedding, mourned by the distraught man whom she was to marry.