The directory «Artists»

Reynolds Joshua
(1723–1792)

Joshua Reynolds was born into the family of the Reverend Samuel Reynolds, who held the post of headmaster in a local grammar school, which Joshua attended as a boy. The young Reynolds received a good classical education; he loved literature and became well-read in classical Greek and Roman authors. He revealed his interest in and talent for painting rather early.

In 1740 he went to London to study painting. He was not interested in portraiture and had no intention to work in this genre. However, apprenticeship in the studio of Thomas Hudson (1701-1779), a Devonshireman like himself and a famous portrait painter of that time, changed Reynolds’ mind. He spent 3 years in Hudson’s studio and even before finishing his studies, began his career as a portrait painter. His early independent Devon works reveal his inexperience and lack of individual >London for another two years, during which he evidently studied the available works of old masters. Thus, his Self-Portrait of 1747 (London, Portrait Gallery) was influenced by Rembrandt and the famous group portrait of the Eliot Family shows that he had studied the large-scale portrait of the Pembroke Family (1634-35) by the Flemish Baroque painter Sir Anthony Van Dyck.
However modest the early works might have been, they revealed the compositional talent of the young painter and his interest in light and theatrical effects.

In 1749, Reynolds left England for a long trip abroad, on a ship captained by his friend Augustus Keppel. His first stop was Minorca. Unfortunately, he suffered a fall from a horse, which left a permanent scar on his lip, and could not work for the next five months. From Minorca, Reynolds went to Rome, where he spent two years (1750-52) studying antique and Renaissance art. Then, he stayed for three months in Venice, and visited Florence, Bologna and Parma. He made a lot of studies and sketches, trying to understand the techniques and secrets of Michelangelo, Raphael and Venetian artists, especially Titian. Venetian tradition with its emphasis on color and light effects had a lasting influence on all his art, though he never admitted this and stressed the importance of shape and drawing.

In 1753, Reynolds settled in London. He became popular very quickly. The Portrait of Captain Keppel (1753-54, Greenwich, National Marine Museum), on whose ship he had left to Italy, brought him his first success. By 1760, he had become the most popular portrait painter in London. His works were valued twice as much as those of Gainsborough.
Undoubtedly, Reynolds was artistically talented and a master of the brush, but he also possessed another gift -- a gift for selling -- and in the 1750s-60s he ran what we would today call a highly successful marketing campaign. Watching painters at work was a kind of entertainment at the time, and Reynolds made a performance out of his work. He had a large mirror in his studio, which he placed so that a sitter could observe the progress of the painting; he never sat when painting, but was in perpetual motion, and, being well-read and well-mannered, he engaged his sitters in polite and clever conversation. He forged prestigious social contacts, and had among his friends such literary celebrities as Samuel Johnson (1709-84), Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774), the statesman, author, orator and political philosopher Edmund Burke (1729-1797), the actor and theatrical manager David Garrick (1717-1779) and others.

Thanks to his activities and success with the public, Reynolds managed to raise the social status of the painter in Britain and made the profession as prestigious as that of scientist and philosopher.

Among his models were aristocrats and the gentry, state and political figures, military men, poets and writers, actors and scientists, upper-class ladies and women of questionable reputation. Having a lot of commissions, Reynolds produced more than 100 paintings a year. Naturally, to keep up such an output, he had to hire several assistants. The employment of drapery and landscape painters for adding backgrounds to portraits was a normal practice in England at the time. Besides, Reynolds’ studio assistants often produced copies of portraits for relatives and friends of the sitter. It was not uncommon for Reynolds to paint the face and hands, leaving the rest of the picture to be completed by his assistants. It usually took several sessions as long as one hour each to finish the face, while the rest of the picture was completed without “troubling” the client.

In the 1760s Reynolds was one of the founding members of the Society of Artists. In 1760 the Society of Artists organized the first public exhibition of contemporary artists, which had tremendous success, and afterwards such exhibitions were held yearly. Reynolds participated in them throughout his life. The Society of Artists sought the patronage of the King, and in 1768 the Royal Academy was founded with Reynolds as its first president. In 1769 he was knighted by George III and for the next 20 years his authority in art was indisputable.

The Series of Discourses that he, as the President, delivered annually to students of the Royal Academy between the years 1769 and 1790 were published after his death. The ideas expressed in these speeches had been developing since the Renaissance, but collected together they became a classical expression of the academic doctrine of Grand Manner. Rational in its basis, it opposed Romanticism with its emphasis on feelings and emotions. Reynolds treated taste from the neo-Classical positions, as the capability of differentiating truth from fallacy, and thought that art should address the minds of the viewers. The aim of art, according to Reynolds, is the moral improvement of man. The artist should seek inspiration in noble and high themes, avoiding the “low” (in this case, he was opposing the art of Hogarth) and follow strict rules (this thesis drew criticism from Blake). Reynolds considered that after Michelangelo, art had gradually degraded. While he did not reject the individual manner of each painter, he thought that the standard should be the great works of the old masters, especially those of the Renaissance. The Discourses became the basis for academic art education.

In practice, the art of Reynolds himself was far from his own doctrine. His work is characteristic of a rare artistic variety combining the dignity and greatness of Grand Manner with feelings, fine psychological observations and artistic freedom. There are not many artists in history who were able to render such an exceptional combination of emotions and technique.

His works can be divided into two types. The first is where he struggled to “elevate” the genre of portraiture with the help of classic samples and associations. Such compositions are pompous and contain allegoric figures and details, taken from classical mythology and art. The models in these works are idealized and very often the subjects are Greek and Roman deities. Three Graces, Decorating Gimenei; Portrait of the Montgomery Sisters 1774, Tate Gallery, Portrait of Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse (1783-84), are the best examples of this line of his art.

The other type of portraiture – he usually painted people he knew well in this style – is intimate, without spectacular attributes, and psychologically subtle. The portraits of children and women are lyrical and straightforward, though sometimes sentimental; men’s portraits have objects which hint at their profession or hobby, intellect and character are stressed. Examples of this portraiture include,… Portrait of Nelli O’Brien (Wallace collection) – considered one of his masterpieces. Although in accordance with academic doctrine, much attention is given to the drawing, lines and plastic shape, Reynolds is a wonderful colorist. Unfortunately, his constant experiments with different pigments, resins, waxes, oils, bitumen, etc, led to quick fading, cracking and even destruction of the pictures. Some of the portraits literary grew older and died before their sitters.

Reynolds built the composition of his works very creatively, showing much diversity and originality in his treatment of his models.

In 1781 the painter visited Holland and Flanders, and was impressed by the works of Rubens. The influence of the great master can be seen in his portrait of the Duchess of Devonshire and Her Daughter (1786), in his pictures commissioned by Catherine II and Prince Potemkin Infant Hercules Strangling Serpents in His Cradle (Hermitage).

In 1784 Reynolds was appointed the court painter of King George III, though they never had close relations because of Reynolds’ political views and support for the Whig party. Reynolds’ royal portraits are not among his best works.

During his latest years he also tried himself in historical paintings, unconnected with classical subjects (e.g. Macbeth and the Witches, Lord Egremont collection) Three years before his death Reynolds became blind and had to stop his work. He was buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral with honors as a man of national fame in Britain.

Ghana, 2004, Paintings from the Hermitage

Ghana, 2004, «Cupid Undoing Venus's Belt»