Sir Joshua Reynolds
Born – Plympton, England 1732
Died – London, England 1792
Joshua Reynolds was the first president of the Royal Academy, founded in 1768. His greatness resides less in his abilities as a painter than in the subsequent impact of his artistic ideology – via his famous Discourses – and in his success in raising the status of the artist. Reynolds was brought up in an atmosphere of learning, establishing himself as a portraitist in Devon after a period of training in London. From 1750-2 his studies in Italy of great Renaissance masters set the tone for his future artistic practice and theoretical concerns. His aim was to express the rational ideal as the basis of aesthetic judgement, rather than perpetuate the Romantic movement in painting. The classical dignity that permeated his portraits complements the Grand Manner doctrine, which became his war cry of “reason and philosophy”. His academic considerations pronounced the supremacy of noble and sublime interpretation as opposed to the depiction of the natural and the particular – as Hogarth had done. Nelly O’Brien is a generous painting, full of character and sensitivity. Such portraits of women and children show Reynolds at his most responsive.
Masterpieces:
- Portrait of Miss Bowles with her Dog
- Captain Robert Orme
Text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson.
Books About sir joshua reynolds
Sir Joshua Reynolds: A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings (The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art)
Mr. David Mannings
Buy on Amazon
Discourses on Art: New edition (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in Britis)
Sir Joshua Reynolds
Buy on Amazon
Seven Discourses on Art
Sir Joshua Reynolds
Buy on Amazon