Joshua Reynolds
Plympton Free Grammar School | |
---|---|
Notable work | The Age of Innocence |
Signature | |
Sir Joshua Reynolds
Early life
Reynolds was born in
As a boy, he also came under the influence of
Career
Having shown an early interest in art, Reynolds was apprenticed in 1740 to the fashionable London portrait painter
In 1749, Reynolds met Commodore Augustus Keppel, who invited him to join HMS Centurion, of which he had command, on a voyage to the Mediterranean. While with the ship he visited Lisbon, Cadiz, Algiers and Minorca. From Minorca he travelled to Livorno in Italy, and then to Rome,[5] where he spent two years,[6] studying the Old Masters and acquiring a taste for the "Grand Style".[7] Lord Edgcumbe, who had known Reynolds as a boy and introduced him to Keppel, suggested he should study with Pompeo Batoni, the leading painter in Rome, but Reynolds replied that he had nothing to learn from him.[3] While in Rome he suffered a severe cold, which left him partially deaf, and, as a result, he began to carry the small ear trumpet with which he is often pictured.
Reynolds travelled homeward overland via Florence, Bologna, Venice,[8] and Paris.[9] He was accompanied by Giuseppe Marchi, then aged about 17.[10] Apart from a brief interlude in 1770, Marchi remained in Reynolds' employment as a studio assistant for the rest of the artist's career.[10] Following his arrival in England in October 1752, Reynolds spent three months in Devon[11] before establishing himself in London the following year and remaining there for the rest of his life. He took rooms in St Martin's Lane, before moving to Great Newport Street; his sister Frances acted as his housekeeper.[11] He achieved success rapidly, and was extremely prolific.[12] Lord Edgecumbe recommended the Duke of Devonshire and Duke of Grafton to sit for him, and other peers followed, including the Duke of Cumberland, third son of George II,[13] in whose portrait, according to Nicholas Penny "bulk is brilliantly converted into power".[13] In 1760, Reynolds moved into a large house, with space to show his works and accommodate his assistants, on the west side of Leicester Fields (now Leicester Square).[14]
Alongside ambitious full-length portraits, Reynolds painted large numbers of smaller works. In the late 1750s, at the height of the social season, he received five or six sitters a day, each for an hour.[3] By 1761, Reynolds could command a fee of 80 guineas for a full-length portrait; in 1764, he was paid 100 guineas for a portrait of Lord Burghersh.[15]
The clothing of Reynolds' sitters was usually painted by either one of his pupils,[16] his studio assistant Giuseppe Marchi,[17] or the specialist drapery painter Peter Toms.[16] James Northcote, his pupil, wrote of this arrangement that "the imitation of particular stuffs is not the work of genius, but is to be acquired easily by practice, and this was what his pupils could do by care and time more than he himself chose to bestow; but his own slight and masterly work was still the best."[16] Lay figures were used to model the clothes.[13]
Reynolds often adapted the poses of his subjects from the works of earlier artists, a practice mocked by Nathaniel Hone in a painting called The Conjuror submitted to the Royal Academy exhibition of 1775, and now in the collection of the National Gallery of Ireland. It shows a figure representing, though not resembling, Reynolds, seated in front of a cascade of prints from which Reynolds had borrowed with varying degrees of subtlety.[18]
Although not known principally for his landscapes, Reynolds did paint in this genre. He had an excellent vantage from his house, Wick House, on Richmond Hill, and painted the view in about 1780.[19]
Reynolds also was recognised for his portraits of children. He emphasised the innocence and natural grace of children when depicting them. His 1788 portrait,
The Club
Reynolds worked long hours in his studio, rarely taking a holiday. He was gregarious and keenly intellectual, with many friends from London's intelligentsia, numbered among whom were
Because of his popularity as a portrait painter, Reynolds enjoyed constant interaction with the wealthy and famous men and women of the day, and it was he who brought together the figures of "The Club". It was founded in 1764 and met in a suite of rooms on the first floor of the Turks Head at 9 Gerrard Street, now marked by a plaque. Original members included Burke, Bennet Langton, Topham Beauclerk, Goldsmith, Anthony Chamier, Thomas Hawkins, and Nugent, to be joined by Garrick, Boswell, and Sheridan. In ten years the membership had risen to 35. The Club met every Monday evening for supper and conversation and continued into the early hours of Tuesday morning. In later years, it met fortnightly during Parliamentary sessions. When in 1783 the landlord of the Turks Head died and the property was sold, The Club moved to Sackville Street.[22]
Royal Academy
Reynolds was one of the earliest members of the
Reynolds and the Royal Academy received a mixed reception. Critics included
[He] transformed British painting with portraits and subject pictures that engaged their audience's knowledge, imagination, memory and emotions... As an eloquent teacher and art theorist, he used his role at the head of the Royal Academy to raise the status of art and artists of Britain.[26]
Lord Keppel
In the Battle of Ushant against the French in 1778, Lord Keppel commanded the Channel Fleet and the outcome resulted in no clear winner; Keppel ordered the attack be renewed and was obeyed except by Sir Hugh Palliser, who commanded the rear, and the French escaped bombardment. A dispute between Keppel and Palliser arose and Palliser brought charges of misconduct and neglect of duty against Keppel and the Admiralty decided to court-martial him. On 11 February 1779, Keppel was acquitted of all charges and became a national hero. One of Keppel's lawyers commissioned Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland to paint a portrait of Keppel, but Keppel redirected it to Reynolds. Reynolds alluded to Keppel's trial in the portrait by painting his hand on his sword, reflecting the presiding officer's words at the court-martial: "In delivering to you your sword, I am to congratulate you on its being restored to you with so much honour".[27]
Principal Painter in Ordinary to the King
On 10 August 1784,
Lord Heathfield
In 1787, Reynolds painted the portrait of Lord Heathfield, who became a national hero for the successful defence of Gibraltar in the Great Siege from 1779 to 1783 against the combined forces of France and Spain. Heathfield is depicted against a background of clouds and cannon smoke, wearing the uniform of the 15th Light Dragoons and clasping the key of the Rock, its chain wrapped twice around his right hand.[30] John Constable said in the 1830s that it was "almost a history of the defence of Gibraltar".[2] Desmond Shawe-Taylor has claimed that the portrait may have a religious meaning, Heathfield holding the key similar to St. Peter (Jesus' "rock") possessing the keys to Heaven, Heathfield "the rock upon which Britannia builds her military interests".[2][31]
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,
to the splendor of the foliage, to the neglect of the stirring the earth about the roots. They cultivated only those arts which could add splendor to the nation, to the neglect of those which supported it – They neglected Trade & substantial Manufacture ... but does it follow that a total revolution is necessary that because we have given ourselves up too much to the ornaments of life, we will now have none at all.[32]
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".[33]
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".[34] 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".[34]
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
I had long languished to see that kindly zealous friend, but his ill health had intimidated me from making the attempt": "He had a bandage over one eye, and the other shaded with a green half-bonnet. He seemed serious even to sadness, though extremely kind. 'I am very glad,' he said, in a meek voice and dejected accent, 'to see you again, and I wish I could see you better! but I have only one eye now, and hardly that.' I was really quite touched.[35]
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.[36]
Doctors
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".[37]
Reynolds was buried at St Paul's Cathedral.[38] In 1903, a statue, by Alfred Drury, was erected in his honour in the Annenberg Courtyard of Burlington House, home of the Royal Academy.[39] 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.[40] [41]
Personal characteristics
In appearance Reynolds was not striking. Slightly built, he was about 5'6" tall with dark brown curls, a florid complexion and features that James Boswell thought were "rather too largely and strongly limned." He had a broad face and a cleft chin, and the bridge of his nose was slightly dented; his skin was scarred by smallpox and his upper lip disfigured as a result of falling from a horse as a young man. Edmond Malone asserted however that "his appearance at first sight impressed the spectator with the idea of a well-born and well-bred English gentleman."
In his mature years he suffered from deafness, as recorded by Frances Burney, although this did not impede his lively social life.[42]
Renowned for his placidity, Reynolds often claimed that he "hated nobody". This may be self-idealisation. It is well known that he disliked George Romney, whom he referred to only as "the man in Cavendish Square" and whom he successfully prevented from becoming a member of the Royal Academy. He did not like Gainsborough, yet appreciated his achievements in the obituary he wrote of his rival. (Rump; Kidson). It is said that when he taught in one of his "discourses" that a painter should not amass too much of the colour blue in the foreground of an image, Gainsborough was prompted to paint his famous "Blue Boy".
Never quite losing his Devonshire accent, Reynolds was not only an amiable and original conversationalist, but a friendly and generous host, so that Frances Burney recorded in her diary that he had "a suavity of disposition that set everybody at their ease in his society", and
Thou say'st not only skill is gained
But genius too may be attained
By studious imitation;
Thy temper mild, thy genius fine
I'll copy till I make them mine
By constant application.
Some people, such as
It is to this lukewarm temperament that
Biographer Ian McIntyre discusses the possibility of Reynolds having enjoyed sexual relations with certain clients, such as Nelly O'Brien (or "My Lady O'Brien", as he playfully dubbed her) and Kitty Fisher, who visited his house for more sittings than were strictly necessary. Dan Cruickshank in his book London's Sinful Secret summarised Reynolds as having visited and re-visited various reputed red light districts in London after his return from Italy as a possible contributor to his medical condition and appearance due to commonly contracted disease in those areas of London.[43]
The Reynolds Research Project
In 2010, the Wallace Collection launched the Reynolds Research Project. With the support of the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, and in partnership with the National Gallery and in collaboration with the Yale Center for British Art, work was undertaken to conserve the museum's portraits to improve their visual appreciation for future generations and to investigate the ways in which they were painted.
The purpose of an exhibition and accompanying catalogue, Joshua Reynolds: Experiments in Paint, 2015, was to share the discoveries of the project and to reveal Reynolds's complex and experimental engagement with painterly materials over the course of his long career. A series of thematic groupings of works from the collection with temporary loans allowed the curators to explore the development of Reynolds's images from both a technical and art historical viewpoint.
As well as exploring his experimentation with materials, the project also revealed the innovative ways in which Reynolds collaborated with his patrons; played with the conventions of genre, composition and pose; engaged with the work of other artists; and organised the submission and display of his work at exhibitions. The commissioning and collecting of Reynolds's work, specifically in the context of the founders of the Wallace Collection (the Seymour-Conway family), was also examined.
Gallery
-
Self Portrait, c. 1740
-
Commodore the Honourable August Keppel (1749), Reynolds's first portrait of Keppel
-
Captain the Honourable Augustus Keppel in the pose of the Apollo Belvedere (1753)
-
Edward Cornwallis (1756)
-
Miss Elizabeth Ingram (1757), Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
-
Portrait of Miss Mary Pelham (c. 1757), Dallas Museum of Art
-
Francis Reynolds-Moreton (Royal Navy officer)(1758)
-
Henry Yelverton, Third Earl of Essex (1758-1759), Museum of the Shenandoah Valley
-
Cherokee Chief Ostenaco (1763)
-
Philip Eyre Gell (1763)
-
Kitty Fisher and Parrott (1763–1764)
-
Mrs Abington as The Comic Muse (1764–1768), at Waddesdon Manor
-
Richard Crofts of West Harling, Norfolk (1765)
-
David Garrick; Eva Maria Garrick (née Veigel)
-
Tysoe Hancock and his family with an Indian maid (1765)
-
John Julius Angerstein (1765)
-
Elizabeth, Lady Amherst(1767)
-
Colonel Acland and Lord Sydney, The Archers(1769)
-
Portrait of Elizabeth Kerr (c. 1769)
-
Lady Christian Acland (1771)
-
Boy with Grapes, 1773, Cincinnati Museum
-
A Strawberry Girl, 1773
-
Anne Seymour Damer (1773)
-
Lady Cockburn and Her Three Eldest Sons (1773–1775)
-
Master Crewe as Henry VIII, 1775
-
Miss Bowles, Wallace Collection, 1775
-
The Infant Samuel (1776)
-
Omai (1776)
-
Sarah Campbell (1777)
-
Countess of Eglinton (1777)
-
Lady Caroline Howard (1778)
-
Jane, Countess of Harrington(1778)
-
The Family of the Duke of Marlborough (1778)
-
Colonel Tarleton, 1782, National Gallery
-
CaptainGeorge K. H. Coussmaker(1782)
-
Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Harrington (1782)
-
Lady Elizabeth Keppel 1761
-
Admiral Hood (1783)
-
Heads of Angels – Miss Frances (Gordon), 1787
-
The Infant Hercules (c. 1785–1789), Princeton University Art Museum
-
The Huntington Library, San Marino, California
-
Mrs Elizabeth Carnac 1775
-
Lady Elizabeth Compton, Countess of Burlington 1780-1782
-
Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire c.1775
-
Jane Fleming, Countess of Harrington c.1775
-
Lady Worsley 1776
-
Sir William Fawcett 1784
-
John Hayes St. Leger
-
Lady Frances Finch, Countess of Dartmouth c.1781-1782
-
3rd Earl of Bute 1773
-
Sir Richard Peers Symons, Baronet 1770-1771
-
Sir Charles Davers, 6 bt 1773
-
Mrs John Hale 1762-1764
See also
- English art
- Grand manner
- Mary Nesbitt, 18th-century courtesan who began her career as Reynolds' model.
- Martin Postle, an expert on Joshua Reynolds
References
- ^ Russell, John (26 January 1986). "ART VIEW; ANYBODY WHO WAS SOMEBODY KNOCKED AT HIS DOOR". The New York Times.
- ^ a b c d e Postle, Martin, "Reynolds, Sir Joshua (1723–1792)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, October 2009. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g Penny, Nicholas (1986). "The Ambitious Man". Reynolds (Exhibition catalogue). Royal Academy of Arts. pp. 17–18.
- ^ Lee, Elizabeth, Biography of Mary Palmer, Dictionary of National Biography, 1885–1900, Vol. 43.
- ^ Leslie and Taylor 1865, volume 1, pp. 35–7
- ^ Leslie and Taylor 1865, volume 1, p. 39.
- ^ "Grand manner". Tate. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
- ^ Leslie and Taylor 1865, volume 1, pp. 62–5
- ^ Leslie and Taylor 1865, volume 1, p. 86.
- ^ a b "Giuseppe Marchi". Reynolds (Exhibition catalogue). Royal Academy of Arts. 1986. p. 181.
- ^ a b Leslie and Taylor 1865, volume 1, p. 89.
- ^ Leslie and Taylor 1865, volume 1, p.102. His pocket book records him as painting 150 sitters in 1758 alone.
- ^ a b c Penny, Nicholas (1986). "The Ambitious Man". Reynolds (Exhibition catalogue). Royal Academy of Arts. p. 22.
- ^ Penny, Nicholas (1986). "The Ambitious Man". Reynolds (Exhibition catalogue). Royal Academy of Arts. p. 24.
- ^ The Times, "Sale Of The Vaile And Other Pictures", 25 May 1903.
- ^ a b c Northcote, James. The life of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Vol. 2. p. 26.
- ^ "Suzanna Beckford 1756". Tate Gallery. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
- ^ Newman, John (1986). "Reynolds and Hone". Reynolds (Exhibition catalogue). Royal Academy of Arts. pp. 344–54.
- ^ "Local History RichmondHill" (PDF). London Borough of Richmond. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 February 2012.
- ^ "Angelica Kauffman, Sir Joshua Reynolds". National Trust.
- ^ Boswell, James, Life of Johnson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), p. 923.
- ^ City of Westminster green plaques "Westminster City Council - Green Plaques Scheme". Archived from the original on 16 July 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2011.
- ^ Wendorf, Richard, Sir Joshua Reynolds: The Painter in Society (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1998), p 46.
- ^ Jackson, William, The Four Ages including essays on various subjects, London: Cadell & Davies, 1798.
- ^ "RA250 UK". Retrieved 30 November 2018.
- ^ Carey, Juliet (30 March 2018). "Joshua Reynolds digital trail, Waddesdon Manor". Retrieved 30 November 2018.
- ^ McIntyre, pp. 350–353.
- ^ McIntyre, p. 426.
- ^ a b McIntyre, p. 427.
- ^ McIntyre, p. 472.
- ^ Desmond Shawe-Taylor, The Georgians: Eighteenth-Century Portraiture and Society (London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1990), p. 49.
- ^ McIntyre, p. 513.
- ^ McIntyre, p. 487.
- ^ a b McIntyre, p. 523.
- ^ McIntyre, pp. 523–524.
- ^ a b McIntyre, pp. 524–525.
- ^ McIntyre, p. 528.
- Sinclair, W.p. 465: London; Chapman & Hall, Ltd; 1909.
- ^ "Burlington House courtyard – Joshua Reynolds". London Remembers. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
- ^ "About Us". Burlington House. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
- .
- ^ Burney, F. The Diary of Fanny Burney, Dent (Everyman edition), London, 1971, p. 27
- ^ Dan Cruickshank, London's Sinful Secret, p.92. St. Martin's Press, New York (2009).
- ^ Tate
Referenced books
- James Boswell, Life of Johnson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008).
- Charles Robert Leslie and Tom Taylor, Life and Times of Sir Joshua Reynolds (London: John Murray, 1865, 2 volumes).
- Ian McIntyre, Joshua Reynolds. The Life and Times of the First President of the Royal Academy (London: Allen Lane, 2003).
- Martin Postle, "Reynolds, Sir Joshua (1723–1792)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, October 2009. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
Further reading
- J. Blanc, Les Écrits de Sir Joshua Reynolds (Théorie de l'art (1400–1800) / Art Theory (1400–1800), 4), Turnhout, 2016, ISBN 978-2-503-54337-6
- John Barrell, The Political Theory of Painting from Reynolds to Hazlitt (1986).
- A. Graves and W. V. Cronin, A History of the Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds (1899–1901, 4 volumes).
- F. W. Hilles, The Literary Career of Sir Joshua Reynolds (1936).
- Derek Hudson, Sir Joshua Reynolds: A Personal Study (1958).
- Hurll, Estelle M. Sir Joshua Reynolds.
- J. Ingamells and J. Edgcumbe (eds), The Letters of Sir Joshua Reynolds (2000).
- Alex Kidson, George Romney. 1734–1802 (2002)
- E. Malone (ed.), The Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds (1798, 3 volumes).
- D. Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA, 1723–92 (1992).
- D. Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds: A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings: The Subject Pictures Catalogued by Martin Postle (New Haven and London, 2000)
- H. Mount (ed.), Sir Joshua Reynolds, A Journey to Flanders and Holland (1996)
- J. Northcote, Memoirs of Sir Joshua Reynolds, knt. (1813–15).
- J. Northcote, The Life of Sir Joshua Reynolds (1818, 2nd edition, 2 volumes).
- Martin Postle (ed.), Joshua Reynolds: The Creation of Celebrity (London: ISBN 1-85437-564-4
- Martin Postle, Sir Joshua Reynolds: The Subject Pictures (1995).
- Martin Postle, Drawings of Joshua Reynolds.
- R. Prochno, Joshua Reynolds (1990).
- Gerhard Charles Rump, George Romney (1734–1802). Zur Bildform der bürgerlichen Mitte in der Englischen Neoklassik (1974)
- S. Smiles (ed.), Sir Joshua Reynolds: The Acquisition of Genius (2009).
- Uglow, Jenny, "Big Talkers" (review of Leo Damrosch, The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age, Yale University Press, 473 pp.), The New York Review of Books, vol. LXVI, no. 9 (23 May 2019), pp. 26–28.
- E. K. Waterhouse, Reynolds (1941).
- E. K. Waterhouse, Reynolds (1973).
- Joshua Reynolds, Discourses on Art (London, 1778); ed. R. R. Wark (New Haven and London, 1975)
- N. Penny (ed.), Reynolds, exhibition catalogue, Paris Grand Palais, London, Royal Academy, 1986
- Werner Busch, "Hogarth's and Reynolds' Porträt des Schauspielers Garrick", in: Englishness. Beiträge zur englischen Kunst des 18. Jahrhunderts von Hogath bis Romney, Berlin and Munich: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2010, pp. 57–76
External links
- Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. .
- 614 artworks by or after Joshua Reynolds at the Art UK site
- List of paintings by or after Reynolds in Wikidata
- Port Eliot House, home of the Earl of St. Germans contains many fine works by Reynolds, including a rare view of Plymouth
- 'Sir Joshua Reynolds: The Acquisition of Genius' exhibition at Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery - 21 November 2009 to 20 February 2010
- Frits Lugt, Les marques de collections de dessins & d'estampes, 1921 and its Supplement 1956, online edition
- Sir Joshua Reynolds at Waddesdon Manor
- The Nativity., engraved by Ambrose William Warren for The Easter Gift, 1832, with a poetical illustration by Letitia Elizabeth Landon
Collections
- The National Gallery: Sir Joshua Reynolds
- Works in the National Galleries of Scotland
- Liverpoolmuseums.org.uk
- GAC.culture.gov.uk
- Artcyclopedia: Sir Joshua Reynolds
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Sir Joshua Reynolds at Olga's Gallery
- Sir Joshua Reynolds, A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings (book-bound)