Joshua Reynolds

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Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits.

John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century.

He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect.

He was a founder and first president of the Royal Academy of Arts, and was knighted by George III in 1769.

Early life

Reynolds was born in Plympton, Devon, on 16 July 1723 the third son of the Rev. Samuel Reynolds, master of the Plympton Free Grammar School in the town. His father had been a fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, but did not send any of his sons to the university. One of his sisters was Mary Palmer (1716–1794), seven years his senior, author of Devonshire Dialogue, whose fondness for drawing is said to have had much influence on him when a boy. In 1740 she provided £60, half of the premium paid to Thomas Hudson the portrait-painter, for Joshua's pupilage, and nine years later advanced money for his expenses in Italy. His other siblings included Frances Reynolds and Elizabeth Johnson.

As a boy, he came under the influence of Zachariah Mudge, whose Platonistic philosophy stayed with him all his life. Reynolds made extracts in his commonplace book from Theophrastus, Plutarch, Seneca, Marcus Antonius, Ovid, William Shakespeare, John Milton, Alexander Pope, John Dryden, Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, Aphra Behn, and passages on art theory by Leonardo da Vinci, Charles Alphonse Du Fresnoy, and André Félibien. The work that came to have the most influential impact on Reynolds was Jonathan Richardson's An Essay on the Theory of Painting (1715). Reynolds' annotated copy was lost for nearly two hundred years until it appeared in a Cambridge bookshop, inscribed with the signature ‘J. Reynolds Pictor’, and is now in the collection of the Royal Academy of Arts, London.

Later life

In 1789, Reynolds lost the sight of his left eye, which forced him into retirement. In 1791 James Boswell dedicated his Life of Samuel Johnson to Reynolds. Reynolds agreed with Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France and, writing in early 1791, expressed his belief that the ancien régime of France had fallen due to spending too much time tending, as he puts it,

When attending a dinner at Holland House, Fox's niece Caroline was sat next to Reynolds and "burst out into glorification of the Revolution – and was grievously chilled and checked by her neighbour's cautious and unsympathetic tone".

On 4 June 1791 at a dinner at the Freemasons' Tavern to mark the king's birthday, Reynolds drank to the toasts "GOD save the KING!" and "May our glorious Constitution under which the arts flourish, be immortal!", in what was reported by the Public Advertiser as "a fervour truly patriotick". Reynolds "filled the chair with a most convivial glee". He returned to town from Burke's house in Beaconsfield and Edmond Malone wrote that "we left his carriage at the Inn at Hayes, and walked five miles on the road, in a warm day, without his complaining of any fatigue".

Later that month Reynolds suffered from a swelling over his left eye and had to be purged by a surgeon. In October he was too ill to take the president's chair and in November, Frances Burney recorded that

On 5 November Reynolds, fearing he might not have an opportunity to write a will, wrote a memorandum intended to be his last will and testament, with Edmund Burke, Edmond Malone, and Philip Metcalfe named as executors. On 10 November Reynolds wrote to Benjamin West to resign the presidency, but the General Assembly agreed he should be re-elected, with Sir William Chambers and West to deputise for him.

Doctors Richard Warren and Sir George Baker believed Reynolds' illness to be psychological and they bled his neck "with a view of drawing the humour from his eyes" but the effect, in the view of his niece, was that it seemed "as if the 'principle of life' were gone" from Reynolds. On New Year's Day 1792 Reynolds became "seized with sickness" and from that point could not keep down food. Reynolds died on 23 February 1792 at his house at 47 Leicester Fields in London between eight and nine in the evening.

Burke was present on the night Reynolds died, and was moved within hours to write a eulogy of Reynolds starting with the following sentiments: "Sir Joshua Reynolds was on very many accounts one of the most memorable men of his Time. He was the first Englishman who added the praise of the elegant Arts to the other Glories of his Country. In Taste, in grace, in facility, in happy invention, and in the richness and Harmony of colouring, he was equal to the great masters of the renowned Ages." Burke's tribute was well received and one journalist called it "the eulogium of Apelles pronounced by Pericles".

Reynolds was buried at St Paul's Cathedral. In 1903, a statue, by Alfred Drury, was erected in his honour in Annenberg Courtyard of Burlington House, home of the Royal Academy. Around the statue are fountains and lights, installed in 2000, arranged in the pattern of a star chart at midnight on the night of Reynolds' birth. The planets are marked by granite discs, and the Moon by a water recess.

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Career

Reynolds apprenticed to the fashionable London portrait painter Thomas Hudson, who had been born in Devon, who had shown an early interest in art. Hudson had a collection of Old Master drawings, some by Guercino, of which Reynolds made copies. Reynolds remained with him only until spring 1743, although apprenticed to Hudson for four years. Reynolds, a Hudson native, worked in Plymouth Dock as a portrait painter (now Devonport). He returned to London before the death of his father in late 1745, but his sisters and his father rented a house in Plymouth Dock.

Reynolds traveled to the Mediterranean in 1749 with Commodore Augustus Keppel, who invited him to join HMS Centurion, which he had command. He visited Lisbon, Cadiz, Algiers, and Minorca while on board. He moved from Minorca to Livorno, Italy, and then to Rome, where he spent two years researching the Old Masters and getting a glimpse of the "Grand Style." Lord Edgcumbe, who had known Reynolds as a child and introduced him to Keppel, suggested that he study with Pompeo Batoni, Rome's top painter, but Reynolds said he had nothing to learn from him. He had a severe cold while in Rome, making him partially blind, and as a result, he started carrying a tiny ear trumpet, which he is often depicted.

Reynolds travelled homeward overland via Florence, Bologna, Venice, and Paris. Giuseppe Marchi, who was then 17 years old, accompanied him. Marchi stayed in Reynolds' position as a studio assistant for the remainder of the artist's career after a brief period in 1770. Reynolds spent three months in Devon after arriving in England in October 1752 before establishing himself in London the next year and remaining in London for the remainder of his life. He took up lodging in St Martin's Lane before moving to Great Newport Street, where his sister Frances served as his housekeeper. He was extremely popular and was extremely prolific. Lord Edgecumbe recommended that the Duke of Devonshire and Duke of Grafton sit for him, and others, including the Duke of Cumberland, third son of George II, was accompanied by the Duke of Cumberland, whose portrait, according to Nicholas Penny, "bulk is brilliantly converted into power." On the west side of Leicester Fields (now Leicester Square), Reynolds converted to a large house with ample space to display his crafts and accommodate his employees in 1760.

Reynolds created a number of smaller works in conjunction with highly realistic full-length portraits. He received five or six sitters a day, one for an hour, in the late 1750s, during the social season. By 1761, Reynolds could sell a full-length portrait; in 1764, he was paid 100 guineas for a portrait of Lord Burghersh.

Reynolds' sitters' clothing was usually painted by one of his students, his studio assistant Giuseppe Marchi, or the specialist drapery painter Peter Toms. "The imposition of particular items is not genius," James Northcote, his pupil, explained, "the imitation of such things is not genius," but "practical learning is to be gained quickly," says the student, and his pupils could do by care and time more than he himself wanted to learn," he said. To model the clothing, lay figures were used.

Reynolds often adapted the poses of his subjects from older artists' works, a practice mocked by Nathaniel Hone in a painting entitled The Conjuror, which is now in the National Gallery of Ireland's collection. It depicts a figure depicting, though not resembling Reynolds, seated in front of a cascade of prints from which Reynolds had borrowed in varying degrees of subtlety.

Reynolds, although not well known for his landscapes, did paint in this style. He had a stunning view from his house, Wick House, on Richmond Hill, and painted the view in about 1780.

Reynolds was also known for his child portraits. When portraying children, he stressed the innocence and natural grace of children. Age of Innocence, his 1788 portrait, is his best known character study of a child. The painting's subject is unknown, although its conneer Theophila Gwatkin, his great niece, and Lady Anne Spencer, the youngest daughter of the fourth Duke of Marlborough's younger daughter, is among the youngest daughters.

Reynolds worked long hours in his studio, with no one taking a holiday. He was gregarious and keenly academic, with many friends from London's intelligence, including Dr Samuel Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, Edmund Burke, Giuseppe Baretti, Henry Thrale, David Garrick, and artist Angelica Kauffman. In 1778, Johnson said, "Reynolds is too much work for [Charles James] Fox and Burke at this time." [meaning Burke] is a fictional actor who plays a bit of English. He is still under some sort of radiation.

Reynolds enjoyed regular contact with the wealthy and famous men and women of the day, and it was he who brought together the figures of "The Club" due to his fame as a portrait painter. It was established in 1764 and met in a suite of rooms on the first floor of the Turks Head at 9 Gerrard Street, which is now marked by a plaque. Burke, Bennet Langton, Topham Beauclerk, Goldsmith, Anthony Chamier, Thomas Hawkins, and Nugent were among the original members of Burke, Bennet Langton, who was joined by Garrick, Boswell, and Sheridan. In ten years, the number of people in the nation had risen to 35. Every Monday evening for supper and chat, the Club continued into the early hours of Tuesday morning. It met fortnightly during Parliamentary sessions in later years. The Turks Head landlord, who had been deceased when the building was sold in 1783, was moved to Sackville Street.

Reynolds was one of the founding members of the Royal Society of Artists of Great Britain and made the Society of Artists of Great Britain's founding in 1768 and became the first president of the Royal Academy of Arts, a position he would hold until his death. He was knighted by George III in 1769, making him the second artist to be honoured. His Discourses, a series of lectures delivered at the academy from 1769 to 1790, are remembered for their sensitivity and perception. In one lecture, he said that "invention, strictly speaking, is little more than a new collection of those photographs that have been collected and stored in the memory." 'in all his academic discourses, replete with classical knowledge of his art, acute remarks on others' work, and general taste and discernment,' William Jackson said in his contemporary essays.

Reynolds and the Royal Academy received a mixed reception. William Blake was among the critics who published the vitriolic Annotations to Sir Joshua Reynolds' Discourses in 1808. J. M. W. Turner and James Northcote were both ferocious acolytes, and Turner, Reynolds' pupil, wrote to his family, "I know him well, and all his faults, but yet sorely admire him." In 2018, the Royal Academy of Art in London celebrated its 250th anniversary, which was the first since its establishment in 1768. "The making, debating, and exhibiting art at the Royal Academy" became a buzzword for galleries and museums around the United Kingdom to commemorate "the making, debating, and exhibiting art at the Royal Academy. Sir Joshua Reynolds' influence at the academy was acknowledged by Waddesdon manor, who acknowledged how:

Lord Keppel commanded the Channel Fleet in 1778, resulting in no definite winner; the attack was ordered to be renewed and obeyed except by Sir Hugh Palliser, who commanded the rear and the French escaped bombardment. When a dispute between Keppel and Palliser arose, Palliser pled guilty of misconduct and neglect of service against Keppel, and the Admiralty ordered to court-martial him. Keppel was cleared of all charges on February 11 and became a national hero on February 11th. Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland was hired by one of Keppel's attorneys to paint a portrait of Keppel, but Keppel redirected it to Reynolds. Reynolds referred to Keppel's trial by painting his hand on his sword, reflecting the presiding officer's words on the court-martial: "I am to congratulate you on this glorious achievement" delivered to you.

Allan Ramsay died on August 10, 1784, and King George III's office, Principal Painter in Ordinary, was vacant. Thomas Gainsborough felt he had a great chance of winning it, but Reynolds felt he deserved it and threatened to resign the Royal Academy's presidency if he did not receive it. "Sept. 1, 2122, to be sworn in painter to the King," Reynolds wrote in his pocket book. However, Reynolds was not happy as he wrote to Boswell: "I would not have asked for it if I had known how a shabby miserable place it is; besides, a certain individual is not worth speaking to nor speaking about" despite the fact that it was not the king. "Your Lordship is congratulating my fellow knight, but the Kings Rat catcher, I believe, is in a better shape, and if I were to paint them yourself" Reynolds wrote to Jonathan Shipley, Bishop of St Asaph, a few weeks later.

Reynolds created the portrait of Lord Heathfield, who became a national hero during the Great War's successful defense of Gibraltar from 1779 to 1783 against France and Spain's combined forces. Heathfield is depicted against a background of clouds and cannon fire, wearing the uniform of the 15th Light Dragoons and clasping the key of the Rock, its chain tied twice around his right hand. It was "almost a history of Gibraltar's defense," John Constable said in the 1830s. Desmond Shawe-Taylor has said that the portrait may have a religious significance, Heathfield having the main pillars of Heaven (Jesus' "rock") and Heathfield "the rock upon which Britannia builds her military forces" in Heathfield.

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