Sir Joshua Reynolds

Sir Joshua Reynolds was the foremost portrait painter of 18th-century Britain, a foundational figure in the British School, and the first president of the Royal Academy of Arts. His work defined the Grand Manner style, elevating portraiture through historical and allegorical references, and his theoretical writings, particularly the Discourses on Art, became central texts in European art education. Reynolds's influence extended across the Atlantic Ocean, shaping the development of early American painters like John Singleton Copley and Gilbert Stuart.

Early life and education

Born in Plympton, Devon, he was the son of Samuel Reynolds, a clergyman and schoolmaster. Showing early artistic promise, he was apprenticed in 1740 to the fashionable London portraitist Thomas Hudson, with whom he studied for four years. Following his apprenticeship, Reynolds worked independently in Devon and London before embarking on a crucial period of study in Italy from 1749 to 1752, financed by Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel. In Rome, he meticulously studied the masters of the Italian Renaissance, including Michelangelo, Raphael, and the Bolognese School, and traveled to other major centers like Florence, Venice, and Paris.

Artistic career and style

Upon establishing his studio in London in 1753, Reynolds rapidly became the portraitist of choice for the nation's elite, including politicians, aristocrats, and literary figures. He synthesized his Italian studies to create the Grand Manner, a style that imbued contemporary sitters with the dignity of classical or historical subjects, as seen in portraits of Laurence Sterne and David Garrick. His technique often involved bold experimentation with materials, including unconventional pigments and asphaltum, which has led to conservation challenges in works like Portrait of Omai. He was a central member of the Society of Artists and a founding member of the Royal Society of Arts, engaging in vigorous rivalry with contemporaries like Thomas Gainsborough and George Romney.

Presidency of the Royal Academy

With the founding of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768 under the patronage of King George III, Reynolds was unanimously elected its first president. He was knighted by the king on 21 April 1769, the same day he delivered his first inaugural address. As president, he authored the influential Discourses on Art, a series of fifteen lectures delivered to Academy students between 1769 and 1790, which advocated for rigorous study of the Old Masters and the intellectual elevation of painting. He presided over the Academy's annual exhibitions at Somerset House, shaping the public taste of the era and mentoring a generation of artists, including James Northcote and John Hoppner.

Major works and legacy

His prolific output includes iconic portraits such as Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse, Lady Elizabeth Delmé and Her Children, and the playful The Age of Innocence. He also produced ambitious subject pictures like The Death of Dido and the Shakespearean Macbeth and the Witches. His legacy is cemented by the widespread dissemination of his images through mezzotint engravings by printmakers like John Raphael Smith and Valentine Green. While some works have darkened due to his experimental techniques, his theoretical principles dominated British art for decades and influenced institutions like the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Personal life and character

Reynolds never married and maintained a close-knit household in Leicester Fields with his sister Frances Reynolds, who was also an artist. He was famously sociable and industrious, hosting regular dinners for the intellectual luminaries of the day, including Samuel Johnson, Edmund Burke, and Oliver Goldsmith, all of whom he painted; this circle formed the core of The Club. He suffered significant hearing loss in later life, a condition poignantly recorded in his late Self-Portrait as a Deaf Man. Following his death in 1792, he was accorded the honor of burial in the Crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral near the tomb of Sir Christopher Wren.

Category:1723 births Category:1792 deaths Category:English portrait painters Category:Presidents of the Royal Academy of Arts Category:Knights Bachelor