Fifteen Discourses

Joshua Reynolds was born in Plympton, Devon, on 16th July, 1723. His father, although a fellow at Balliol College, Oxford, did not send any of his sons to university. However, his elder sister, Mary, a supporter of his early drawing talents did. In 1740 she provided GBP60, half of the premium paid to Thomas Hudson the portrait-painter, for Joshua's pupilage. Hudson had a collection of Old Master drawings, including some by Guercino, of which Reynolds made copies. Although apprenticed for four years, Reynolds only remained until the summer of 1743. He worked for some time as a portrait-painter in Plymouth Dock before returning to London. 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. The ship visited Lisbon, Cadiz, Algiers, Minorca, Livorno in Italy, and then to Rome. Here he spent two years, studying the Old Masters and acquiring a taste for the &quote;Grand Style&quote;. Unfortunately he caught a severe cold, leaving him partially deaf, and, resulting in the need to carry a small ear trumpet. Reynolds returned overland to England by way of Florence, Bologna, Venice, and Paris. He was accompanied by Giuseppe Marchi who, apart from a brief interlude in 1770, would remain as his studio assistant for the rest of the artist's career. Following his arrival back in England in October 1752, Reynolds, spent three months in Devon then moved to London. He success was rapid and his work-rate prolific. 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, in whose portrait, &quote;bulk is brilliantly converted into power&quote;. In 1760 Reynolds moved into a large house, in Leicester Fields (now Leicester Square) with space for his works and to accommodate his assistants. Reynolds also painted large numbers of smaller works. In the late 1750s, during the social season, he received five or six sitters a day, each for an hour. By 1761 Reynolds commanded a fee of 80 guineas for a full-length portrait. Reynolds also painted landscapes but is better known for his portraits of children. These paintings emphasise the innocence and grace of children. His 1788 portrait, Age of Innocence, personifies this. In his studio Reynolds worked long hours, rarely taking a holiday. He was a gregarious and keen intellectual, with many friends from London's intelligentsia including Dr Samuel Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, Edmund Burke, Giuseppe Baretti, and David Garrick. Because of his popularity as a portrait painter, Reynolds enjoyed constant meetings with the wealthy and famous of the day, and it was he who brought together the figures of &quote;The&quote; Club. Founded in 1764 it met in rooms of the Turks Head at 9 Gerrard Street. Original members included Edmund Burke, Langton, Beauclerk, Goldsmith, Chamier, Hawkins, and Nugent, to be joined by Garrick, Boswell, and Sheridan. The Club met every Monday evening for supper and conversation and often continued into the early hours. Reynolds was an early member of the Royal Society of Arts, and in 1768 became the first President of the Royal Academy of Arts, a position he was to hold until his death. In 1769, he was knighted by George III, only the second artist to receive that honor. His Discourses, a series of lectures delivered at the Academy between 1769 and 1790, are remembered for their sensitivity and perception. Reynolds and the Royal Academy received a mixed reception. Critics included William Blake who published his vitriolic Annotations to Sir Joshua Reynolds' Discourses in 1808 but J. M. W. Turner was the polar opposite. He requested he be laid to rest at Reynolds' side. In August 1784 the office of Principal Painter in Ordinary to the king became vacant. Gainsborough felt it should be his, but Reynolds felt he deserved it and threatened to resign the presidency of the Royal Academy if he did not receive it. It was his but it did not make him happy. As he wrote to Boswell: &quote;If I had known what a shabby miserable place it is, I would not have asked for it.&quote; Reynolds later wrote to Jonathan Shipley, Bishop of St Asaphr: &quote;Your Lordship's congratulation on my succeeding Mr. Ramsay I take very kindly, but it is a most miserable office, it is reduced from two hundred to thirty-eight pounds per annum, the Kings Rat catcher I believe is a better place, and I am to be paid only a fourth part of what I have from other people, so that the Portraits of their Majesties are not likely to be better done now, than they used to be, I should be ruined if I was to paint them myself&quote;. Ill health now descended on Reynolds, eventually forcing him into retirement. He lost the sight in his left eye and on November 5th, 1791, fearing he might not have an opportunity to write a will, wrote a memorandum intending that to suffice. Edmund Burke, Edmond Malone, and Philip Metcalfe were named as executors. Medicine in the early 1790's was by no means a scientific affair. His Doctors believed Reynolds' illness to be psychological and they bled his neck &quote;with a view of drawing the humour from his eyes.&quote; On New Year's Day, 1792, Reynolds became &quote;seized with sickness&quote; and now could no longer keep down food. Joshua Reynolds died on the evening of 23rd February, 1792, at his house in Leicester Fields. Burke who was present when Reynolds died, was moved within hours to write a eulogy that began: &quote;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.&quote;