The Joshua Reynolds Tricentennial

I chose this particular portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) with great purpose — it was painted by the American artist Gilbert Stuart, who was born fewer than ten miles from the house where I grew up. Stuart is an object of great local pride in Rhode Island; I’ll certainly be posting about him in future.

As for Reynolds, he too fills me with fascination. Portraitists like him were the celebrity “photographers” of their day. They didn’t just capture the likenesses of royalty, nobility, military and political figures, but also important people in the arts. Reynolds painted the portraits of theatrical people like David Garrick; Sarah Siddons; Emma, Lady Hamilton; Henry Fielding, and Oliver Goldsmith. His circle of intimates included Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Edmund Burke, Dr. Johnson and Boswell (the latter’s Life of Johnson is dedicated to him), and many others. Unusual among visual artists, then or now, Reynolds was extremely well-read (sorry!). His father was a Devon clergyman and schoolmaster who’d been educated at Oxford. A family friend was Platonist Zachariah Mudge. His boyhood notebook was full of quotes from Plutarch, Seneca, Marcus Antonius, Ovid, Shakespeare,Milton, Pope, Dryden,Addison, Steele, Aphra Behn and Leonardo da Vinci. He was more than able to hold his own amongst the heady company he kept.

Reynolds was the first President of the Royal Academy, and was only the second artist to be knighted (the first was the now-forgotten James Thornhill). He apprenticed under Thomas Hudson, and spent two years painting in Rome. He was known for his sense of humor, and a certain unflappable quality. His passions were not easily inflamed. He was largely deaf in later years, and lost one of his eyes two years before he died, forcing him to quit painting.