Joshua Reynolds: The Complete Story
Joshua Reynolds was the painter who made British art respectable. As first president of the Royal Academy he lifted portrait painting to the level of grand history art, posing dukes and actresses as gods and heroes.
His yearly lectures became the rulebook of the British art establishment for generations.
He was also a reckless experimenter, and many of his paintings began to crack and fade while he was still alive.
Born: Plympton, Devon, 1723
Known for: Grand Manner portraits, the Royal Academy, the Discourses on Art
Died: London, 1792
Three that dig further
If you want the detail rather than the summary:
Twelve famous portraits and the real people, the faces behind the paintings
The Arnolfini Portrait, detail by detail, the mirror, the dog, and the question everyone asks
Titian, Sacred and Profane Love, which of the two women is which
Portraits with the airs of history
Reynolds borrowed the poses of ancient statues and old masters and draped his sitters in them. A general stands like a Roman hero, an actress becomes the Tragic Muse, a child glows like a cherub.
He called this the Grand Manner, and it gave mere portraits the dignity of the highest art. See what is portrait painting.
The man who wrote the rules
As founding president of the Royal Academy from 1768, Reynolds delivered a famous series of lectures, the Discourses on Art. They argued that great art comes from studying the old masters and chasing ideal, general beauty.
For decades these talks were the gospel of academic training, the very orthodoxy that later rebels would fight against. See what is academic art.
Genius with bad chemistry
Reynolds tinkered constantly with his materials, mixing risky pigments and varnishes to get rich, old master glow fast.
It backfired. Colours faded, surfaces cracked, and some works decayed within his own lifetime. The painter who preached permanence struggled to make his own pictures last. See what is history painting.
What readers want to know about Reynolds
What is Joshua Reynolds famous for?
Grand Manner society portraits and founding and leading the Royal Academy of Arts.
What are the Discourses?
His annual lectures on art that became the core theory of British academic painting.
Who was his great rival?
Thomas Gainsborough, the looser, more natural portraitist of the same era.
When did he die?
In 1792, in London, and was buried in St Paul's Cathedral.
Why the establishment remembers him
Reynolds was partly deaf and carried an ear trumpet through the brilliant dinners of his friend Dr Johnson's circle. The quiet listener became the loudest voice in British art, and the Academy he built still stands today.
One last fact. He painted the great actress Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse and slyly signed his name on the hem of her gown, telling her he could not resist going down to posterity on the skirts of her dress.