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| c1740 Self-portrait (age 17) black and white chalk and stump, on buff laid paper 41.5 x 26 cm |
Reynolds was born in Plympton in Devonshire on 16 July 1723, seventh child in the large family of the Reverend Samuel Reynolds and Theophilia Potter. Inspired to become an artist by Jonathan Richardson's elevated Essay on the Theory of Painting, Reynolds was apprenticed in 1740 to Thomas Hudson, the most fashionable portraitist of the day, with whom he remained until 1743.
After two years of independent practice in London and another two in his native Devonshire, Reynolds was introduced by his father's friend Lord Edgcumbe to Commodore Augustus Keppel, about to sail to the Mediterranean, who invited him to join his expedition. After a stay in Minorca he spent over two years in Rome, from 1750 to 1752, returning through Florence, Venice and northern Italy, Lyons, and Paris. He brought back with him Giuseppe Marchi, whom he employed as an assistant until the end of his life. Although he never received any academic training, this experience of Italy, his reverence for Raphael, Michelangelo, and the Venetians, and the notebooks that he filled with drawings from classical antiquity and from the Old Masters were the foundation of his ideals and practice as a painter.
Armed with introductions from Lord Edgcumbe to aristocratic sitters, and immediately establishing his reputation in London with his masterly and dramatic full length portrait of Keppel in the pose of the Apollo Belvedere, Reynolds soon supplanted Hudson as the capital's leading portraitist, his only serious competitor being Ramsay. In 1759 he had more than 150 sitters; the following year he bought a grand house on Leicester Fields, took on pupils, and ran a coach. He never married; his household was run first by his sister Frances, then by his niece, Mary Palmer.
The press of business was so great, especially in the middle years of his career, that, as had been customary with a busy portraitist since the time of Lely, the drapery and subordinate parts of his portraits were usually largely executed by assistants--at first by Peter Toms, and later by his own pupils. He employed the finest engravers to publish his principal compositions in mezzotint, a medium in which British eighteenth-century printmakers excelled. He also contributed regularly to the exhibitions first of the Society of Artists, then of the Royal Academy. Though he was uninterested in politics and no courtier, his eminence was such that it was inevitably he who was appointed first president of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768. He was then knighted.
In 1781 Reynolds visited Flanders and Holland, where he was greatly impressed by the work of Rubens. In 1784 he was appointed principal portrait painter to the king in succession to Ramsay. The following year he was commissioned by Catherine II of Russia to paint an historical picture of his own choosing; The Infant Hercules was his largest and most ambitious work. Apart from experiencing chronic deafness he had always enjoyed vigorous good health until he suffered a stroke in 1782; in 1789 he lost the sight of his left eye, and on 23 February 1792 he died in his home on Leicester Fields. He was given a quasi-state funeral and was buried in Saint Paul's Cathedral.
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
This is part 1 of an 8-part series on the works of Sir Joshua Reynolds:
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| 1740-49 Called "Johann Christoph Pepusch (1667–1752)" oil on canvas 74 x 62 cm Royal College of Music, London |
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| 1743 John Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Baron Mount Edgcumbe (1716–1761) oil on canvas 123 x 99.5 cm Mount Edgcumbe House, Torpoint, UK |
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| 1746 Richard Eliot and Family oil on canvas 85.3 x 111.8 cm Port Eliot, Saltash, UK |
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| 1746 Richard Eliot and Family detail |
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| 1746 Richard Eliot and Family detail |
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| 1746 Self Portrait oil on canvas 104 x 90 cm The Box, Plymouth, UK |
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| 1746-47 Lieutenant Robert Haswell, RN (son of John Haswell of Tiverton, Devon) oil on canvas 46 x 36 cm The New Art Gallery Walsall, UK |
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| c1746 Portrait of a Young Man oil o canvas 34.3 x 24.1 cm The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham, UK |
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| 1747 Commander John Roberts (1720–1815) oil on canvas 76 x 63.5 cm National Maritime Museum, London |
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| c1747-49 Self Portrait oil on canvas 63.5 x 74.3 cm National Portrait Gallery, London, London |
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| 1748 Portrait of a Gentleman oil on canvas 76 x 63,5 cm English Heritage, Marble Hill House, Twickenham, London |
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| 1748 Thomas (1740–1825) and Martha Neate (1741–after 1795) with His Tutor, Thomas Needham oil on canvas 168 x 180.3 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| c1748-49 The Reverend William Beele (1704–1757) oil on canvas 76.2 x 63.5 cm The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham, UK |
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| c1748 Admiral Paul Henry Ourry (1719–1783), MP, with 'Jersey' oil on canvas 127 x 101.5 cm National Trust, Saltram, Plymouth, UK |
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| c1748 Admiral the Honourable John Byron (1723–1786) oil on canvas 123.5 x 98 cm Newstead Abbey, Ravenshead, UK |
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| c1748 Elizabeth Hamar, née Limeburner (1731–1760) oil on canvas 127.1 x 101.8 cm The Box, Plymouth, UK |
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| c1748 Portrait of an Unknown Man oil on canvas 76.2 x 63.5 cm Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT |
1749 Commodore the Honourable Augustus Keppel
This portrait was probably painted at Port Mahon, Minorca, when Reynolds accompanied Keppel to the Mediterranean on a mission to negotiate against the depredations of Barbary corsairs. Lord Edgcumbe had introduced Reynolds to Keppel in early 1749 and on 11 May the painter sailed with him from Plymouth for Minorca. He spent the rest of the year there, painting portraits of the British garrison. This was the first of many portraits of Keppel painted by Reynolds and marked the beginning of a close lifelong friendship between them:
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| 1749 Commodore the Honourable Augustus Keppel oil on canvas 127 x 101.5 National Maritime Museum, Royal Museums Greenwich, London |
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| 1749-60 Virgin and Child with Infant Saint John the Baptist oil on canvas 82 x 67 cm Government Art Collection, London |
c1749 Portrait of a Naval Lieutenant
A three-quarter-length portrait to right in lieutenant's undress uniform, 1748–1767, with a gold-laced hat. The sitter wears his own hair and has a telescope in his right hand and crooked in his arm. He stands against a background of rock and foliage and in the right distance is a two-decker. The portrait was probably painted at Port Mahon in 1749, where Reynolds painted portraits of the British garrison.
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| c1749 Portrait of a Naval Lieutenant oil on canvas 124.5 x 101 cm National Maritime Museum, London |
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| 1750-52 Diana (leaf in Italian Sketch Book) graphite on paper 18.8 x 13 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| c1750 Self-portrait oil on canvas 63.5 x 47.6 cm Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut |
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| c1750 Sir Peter Byrne Leicester (1732–1770), Bt oil on canvas 73.7 x 61 cm Tabley House, Knutsford, UK |
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| 1752 Joseph Wilton oil on canvas 76.2 x 59.7 cm National Portrait Gallery, London |
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| 1752-53 Captain the Honourable Augustus Keppel, 1725–1786 oil on canvas 239 x 147.5 cm National Maritime Museum, London |
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| 1752-56 Catherine Moore oil on canvas 69.8 x 57.1 cm English Heritage, Kenwood, London |
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| 1752-64 Thomas Lister (The Brown Boy) oil on canvas 231 x 147.5 cm Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford, UK |
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| c1752 Madonna and Child with Two Angels black chalk on ivory laid paper 14.5 x 18.9 cm Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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| 1753-54 Henry Vansittart oil on canvas 73.7 x 60.3 cm The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK |
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| c1753-54 possibly Elizabeth Hamilton, Mrs John Cameron of Glenkindy, Later the Comtesse de Fay oil on canvas 76 x 63.5 cm National Trust, Montacute House, Somerset, UK |
c1753-55 Charles, 9th Lord Cathcart
He wears a grey, curled wig tied with a ribbon and has on his right cheekbone a black silk lunette patch, to cover a scar received at the battle of Fontenoy in Flanders during the Wars of the Austrian Succession. He wears a red coat with black lapels, decorated with gold braid trimming, and a sash across his body from his left shoulder. Round the wrist of his extended hand is a white lace ruff. His glittering breastplate can just be seen beneath his coat:
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| c1753-55 Charles, 9th Lord Cathcart oil on canvas 124 x 99 cm Manchester Art Gallery, UK |
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| 1753-58 Self-Portrait oil on canvas 73.7 x 61.6 cm Tate Gallery, London |
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| 1754 Thomas Middleton Trollope of Casewick (1721–1779) oil on canvas 76 x 62 cm Usher Gallery, Lincoln, UK |
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| 1755 Portrait of a Lady oil on canvas 60 x 45 cm Private Collection |
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| 1755-56 Francis Beckford oil on canvas 128.3 x 101.6 cm Tate Gallery, London |
1755-57 Admiral Francis Holburne
This portrait was started after May 1755 and was initially intended to be head and shoulders of Holburne alone. In 1757 the canvas was extended on the left and bottom to include the child, Holburne’s only son. The portrait was fitted around Holburne's naval commitments: in 1755 he went with reinforcements to America, with Boscawen and Loudon, and two years later sat on Byng's court-martial. He was for eight years Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth, was made Rear-Admiral of England in 1770 and was briefly Governor of Greenwich Hospital in 1771. He was MP for Plymouth, 1768–1771. The Holburne family had significant connections. The Admiral was second son of Sir James Holburne of Menstrie: his elder brother James (d.1758), became second baronet:
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| 1755-57 Admiral Francis Holburne (1704–1771), and his Son, Sir Francis (1752–1820), 4th Baronet oil on canvas 128 x 102.7 cm National Maritime Museum, London |
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| 1755-57 Charles Fitzroy (1683–1757), 2nd Duke of Grafton oil on canvas 236 x 145 cm Examination Schools, University of Oxford, UK |
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| c1755-60 Mrs. Chalmers oil on canvas 76.8 x 63.5 cm Detroit Institute of Art, MI |
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| c1755-77 General John Guise (1682/1683–1765) oil on canvas 76.2 x 62.8 cm Christ Church, University of Oxford, UK |
c1755 Edward Boscawen
Edward Boscawen joined the Navy at the age of fifteen, and his talent as an officer meant he was soon promoted. He took great care over the wellbeing of his men, but would not accept incompetence; his aggression in battle earned him the nickname 'Old Dreadnaught'. He also had a parliamentary career, representing Truro in Cornwall from 1742:
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| c1755 Edward Boscawen oil on canvas 76.2 x 63.5 cm National Portrait Gallery, London |
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| c1755 Field Marshal Jean Louis Ligonier (Later Lord Ligonier) (1680–1770) oil on canvas 127 x 101.6 cm National Army Museum, London |
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| c1755 Mary Barnardiston (1730–1760) oil on canvas 76.8 x 63.2 cm V&A Museum, London |
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| n.d. Mary Barnardiston (1730–1760) oil on canvas 73 x 62 cm |
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| 1756 Captain Robert Orme oil on canvas 239 x 147 cm The National Gallery, London |
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