Sir Joshua Reynolds
1723-1792
English Rococo Era Painter,
Stylistically influenced by the following painters and art movements - Sir Anthony Van Dyck Peter Paul Rubens, Titian, Raphael, High Renaissance, Classical Greek and Baroque Art
Education -
studied under
Thomas Hudson
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Sir Joshua Reynolds Biography
Joshua Reynolds was born
on the 15th of July, 1723,
the son of a clergyman and
schoolmaster, at Plympton in
Devonshire. His bent for Art
was clear and strong from
his childhood. In 1741 at
the age of nineteen,
he began study, and studied
for two yours in London
under Thomas Hudson, a
successful portrait painter.
Then he went back to
Devonshire and painted
portraits, aided for some
time in his education by
attention to
the work of William
Gandy of Exeter. When
twenty-six years old, in
May, 1749, Reynolds was
taken away by Captain Keppel
to the Mediterranean, and
brought into contact with
the works of the great
painters of Italy. He stayed
two years in Rome, and in
accordance with the
principles afterwards laid
down in these lectures, he
refused, when in Rome,
commissions for copying, and
gave his mind to minute
observation of the
art of the great masters by
whose works he was
surrounded. He spent two
months in Florence, six
weeks in Venice, a few days
in Bologna and Parma.
"If," he said, "I had never
seen any of the fine works
of Correggio, I should
never, perhaps, have
remarked in Nature the
expression which I find in
one of his pieces; or if I
had remarked it, I might
have thought it too
difficult, or perhaps
impossible to execute."
In 1753 Reynolds came back
to England, and stayed three
months in Devonshire before
setting up a studio in
London, in St. Martin's
Lane,
which was then an artists'
quarter. His success was
rapid. In 1755 he had one
hundred and twenty-five
sitters. Samuel Johnson
found in him his
most congenial friend. He
moved to Newport Street, and
he built himself a
studio--where there is now
an auction room--at 47,
Lincoln's Inn Fields. There
he remained for life.
In 1760 the artists opened,
in a room lent by the
Society of Arts, a free
Exhibition for the sale of
their works. This was
continued the next year at
Spring Gardens, with a
charge of a shilling for
admission. In 1765
they obtained a charter
of incorporation, and in
1768 the King gave his
support to the foundation of
a Royal Academy of Arts by
seceders from the preceding
"Incorporated Society of
Artists," into which
personal feelings had
brought much division. It
was to consist, like the
French Academy, of forty
members, and was to maintain
Schools open to all students
of good character who could
give evidence that they had
fully learnt the rudiments
of Art. The foundation by
the King dates from the 10th
of December, 1768. The
Schools were opened on the
2nd of January next
following, and on that
occasion Joshua Reynolds,
who had been elected
President--his age was then
between forty-five and
forty-six--gave the
Inaugural Address which
formed the first of these
Seven Discourses. The other
six were given by him, as
President, at the next six
annual meetings: and they
were all shaped to form,
when collected into a
volume, a coherent body of
good counsel upon the
foundations of the painter's
art.
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Sir Joshua Reynolds Greatest Quotations
"A room hung with
pictures is a room hung with
thoughts." -Sir Joshua
Reynolds Quote
"The real character of a man
is found out by his
amusements." -Sir Joshua
Reynolds Quote
"If you have great talents,
industry will improve them:
if you have but moderate
abilities, industry will
supply their deficiency.
-Sir Joshua Reynolds Quote
When the artist is once
enabled to express himself
with some degree of
correctness, he must then
endeavor to collect subjects
for expression; to amass a
stock of ideas, to be
combined and varied as
occasion may require." --
Joshua Reynolds Quote
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"The great use in copying, if it be at all useful, should seem to be in learning to colour; yet even coloring will never be perfectly attained by servilely copying the mould before you. An eye critically nice can only be formed by observing well-colored pictures with attention: and by
close inspection, and minute examination you will discover, at last, the manner of handling, the artifices of contrast, glazing, and other expedients, by which good colorists have raised the value of their
tints, and by which nature has been so happily imitated." - Joshua Reynolds Quote
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"There is another caution which I wish to give you. Be as select in those whom you endeavor to please, as in those whom you endeavor to imitate. Without the love of fame you can never do anything excellent; but by an
excessive and undistinguishing thirst after it, you will come to have vulgar views; you will degrade your style; and your taste will be entirely corrupted. It is certain that the lowest style will be the most popular, as it falls within the compass of ignorance itself; and the vulgar will always be pleased with what is natural in the confined and misunderstood sense of the word." -- Joshua Reynolds Quote
Principle Artists of the Rococo Period Pompeo Batoni Italian,1708-1787
Bernardo Bellotto Italian,1720-1780
Francois Boucher French, 1703-1770
Canaletto Italian, 1697-1768
Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin French, 1699-1779
Jean-Honoré Fragonard French, 1732-1806
Thomas Gainsborough English, 1727-1823
Francisco de Goya Spanish, 1746-1828
Thomas Hudson English,1701-1779
Jean-Marc Nattier French, 1685-1766
Joshua Reynolds English, 1723-1792
Paul Sandby English, 1730-1809
Jean Antoine Watteau French, 1684-1721
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