Edgar Barclay was an English painter.
Barclay was born in London but travelled extensively in Germany and Italy to study. He studied at Dresden from 1861 with the Nazarene painter Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld. He lived briefly in Rome in the winter of 1871-72 where became friendly with Giovanni Costa. He subsequently returned to Rome many times and in 1874 Costa and Barclay held a small joint exhibition of their work.

He spent some time living on the island of Capri where he was friendly with fellow Etruscan painter Walter Maclaren. Barclay was staying on Capri when Costa vacationed on the island with his family in 1875. Barclay travelled widely, including to Algeria, where he painted Orientalist works.