DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68073#0364
338 OLD WORLD MASTERS
Joshua Reynolds was born in Plympton Earl Plymouth, July 16,
1723, the son of the Rev. Samuel Reynolds, headmaster of the gram-
mar school. Early showing great talent for drawing, young Joshua
was apprenticed in 1740 to Thomas Hudson, the portrait-painter, in
London. Three years later he returned home and established himself
as a portrait-painter at Plymouth Dock, where he met William Gandy,
a painter, who had no little influence upon his style. In 1744 Reynolds
was back in London and in 1749 back in Devonshire, this time settling
in Devonport. In this year he met at Mount Edgcumbe young Com-
modore Keppel (afterwards Admiral), whose portrait he painted and
with whom he formed a great friendship. Accepting Keppel’s invita-
tion to sail with him on the Centurion for a Mediterranean trip, Rey-
nolds eventually reached Rome, where he spent two years. While
studying in the Vatican he caught a severe cold which resulted in a
life-long deafness. Returning home in 1753, Reynolds took rooms in
St. Martin’s Lane, then the headquarters of art, and people began
to flock to his studio. He then removed to Newport Street and in
1760 established himself in Leicester Fields (now Leicester Square),
which for thirty years was the rendez-vous for the artistic, literary,
and distinguished world of London. In 1768 Reynolds was unani-
mously elected first President of the just-established Royal Academy
and in 1769 was knighted by George HI. In 1784 Sir Joshua succeeded
Allan Ramsay as Painter-in-Ordinary to the King. In 1789 his eye-
sight began to fail and he soon had to relinquish his art. Sir Joshua
died in 1792 and was buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral with great pomp.
In addition to his enormous list of paintings Sir Joshua designed the
windows for New College, Oxford, and Oxford gave him the degree
of D. C. L. Sir Joshua’s famous Discourses on Art were delivered
between 1769 and 1790 at the Academy “to encourage a solid and
vigorous course of study.”
When we think of the thousands of pictures that Sir Joshua painted
—all of them fine and many of them great—we stand amazed at the
capacity of the artist who produced them. They were all creations!
The five portraits of little Isabella Gordon known as Angels’ Heads
(National Gallery, London), which in lightness, delicacy, and irides-
Joshua Reynolds was born in Plympton Earl Plymouth, July 16,
1723, the son of the Rev. Samuel Reynolds, headmaster of the gram-
mar school. Early showing great talent for drawing, young Joshua
was apprenticed in 1740 to Thomas Hudson, the portrait-painter, in
London. Three years later he returned home and established himself
as a portrait-painter at Plymouth Dock, where he met William Gandy,
a painter, who had no little influence upon his style. In 1744 Reynolds
was back in London and in 1749 back in Devonshire, this time settling
in Devonport. In this year he met at Mount Edgcumbe young Com-
modore Keppel (afterwards Admiral), whose portrait he painted and
with whom he formed a great friendship. Accepting Keppel’s invita-
tion to sail with him on the Centurion for a Mediterranean trip, Rey-
nolds eventually reached Rome, where he spent two years. While
studying in the Vatican he caught a severe cold which resulted in a
life-long deafness. Returning home in 1753, Reynolds took rooms in
St. Martin’s Lane, then the headquarters of art, and people began
to flock to his studio. He then removed to Newport Street and in
1760 established himself in Leicester Fields (now Leicester Square),
which for thirty years was the rendez-vous for the artistic, literary,
and distinguished world of London. In 1768 Reynolds was unani-
mously elected first President of the just-established Royal Academy
and in 1769 was knighted by George HI. In 1784 Sir Joshua succeeded
Allan Ramsay as Painter-in-Ordinary to the King. In 1789 his eye-
sight began to fail and he soon had to relinquish his art. Sir Joshua
died in 1792 and was buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral with great pomp.
In addition to his enormous list of paintings Sir Joshua designed the
windows for New College, Oxford, and Oxford gave him the degree
of D. C. L. Sir Joshua’s famous Discourses on Art were delivered
between 1769 and 1790 at the Academy “to encourage a solid and
vigorous course of study.”
When we think of the thousands of pictures that Sir Joshua painted
—all of them fine and many of them great—we stand amazed at the
capacity of the artist who produced them. They were all creations!
The five portraits of little Isabella Gordon known as Angels’ Heads
(National Gallery, London), which in lightness, delicacy, and irides-