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| Sir Joshua Reynolds etching and engraving on chine collé by John Keyse Sherwin, after Reynolds |
Sir Joshua Reynolds was the leading English portraitist of the 18th century. Through study of ancient and Italian Renaissance art, and of the work of Rembrandt, Rubens, and Van Dyck, he brought great variety and dignity to British portraiture. He was born at Plympton in Devon, the son of a headmaster and fellow of Balliol College, Oxford: a more educated background than that of most painters.
He was apprenticed in 1740 to the fashionable London portraitist Thomas Hudson, who also trained Joseph Wright of Derby. He spent 1749-52 abroad, mainly in Italy, and set up practice in London shortly after his return. He soon established himself as the leading portrait painter, though he was never popular with George III. He was a key figure in the intellectual life of London, and a friend of Dr Johnson.
When the Royal Academy was founded in 1768, Reynolds was elected its first President. Although believing that history painting was the noblest work of the painter, he had little opportunity to practise it, and his greatest works are his portraits. His paintings are not perfectly preserved due to faulty technique. The carmine reds have faded, leaving flesh-tones paler than intended, and the bitumen used in the blacks has tended to crack. The National Gallery, London
For more biographical details see part 1, and for earlier works see parts 1 - 6 also.
This is part 7 of an 8-part series on the works of Sir Joshua Reynolds:
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| before 1784 A Nymph and Cupid: ‘The Snake in the Grass’ oil on canvas 124.5 x 99.1 cm Tate Gallery, London |
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| before 1784 Charles Rogers (1711–1784), FRS, FSA oil on canvas 73 x 59 cm The Box, Plymouth, UK |
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| before 1784 Portrait of Anne Sneyd as a Shepherdess oil on canvas 76 x 64 cm Private Collection |
1784 Georgiana Augusta Frederica Elliott
Georgiana Augusta Frederica was the daughter of Grace Dalrymple Elliott (whose portrait by Gainsborough at the Museum [20.155.1] is exhibited in Gallery 615). The record of her christening names George Augustus Frederick, Prince of Wales (later George IV) as her father, although her father may actually have been the 1st Marquess of Cholmondeley. She was reared in the Cholmondeley family and married William Charles Bentinck (1780–1826), third son of the 3rd Duke of Portland, in 1808, five years before her death at the age of thirty-one. Painted during the sitter's third year in 1784, the portrait is particularly well preserved.
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| 1784 Georgiana Augusta Frederica Elliott (1782–1813), later Lady Charles Bentinck oil on canvas 88.9 x 76.2 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| 1784 Sir William Fawcett oil on canvas 128 x 103.5 cm National Portrait Gallery, London |
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| c1784 Self-Portrait as a Figure of Horror chalk on paper 62.9 x 47 cm Tate Gallery, London |
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| 1785 George IV when Prince of Wales oil paint on mahogany panel 75.6 x 61,6 cm Tate Gallery, London |
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| 1785 James Boswell oil on canvas 76.2 x 63.5 cm National Portrait Gallery, London |
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| 1785 Mrs. Musters as Hebe oil on canvas 239 x 144.8 cm Iveagh Bequest, Kenwood House, London |
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| 1785-89 The Infant Hercules oil on millboard 25.5 x 21 cm Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey |
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| 1786 Admiral Sir Edward Hughes oil on canvas 76 x 63 cm Szépmûvészeti Múzeum, Budapest |
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| 1786 Emma Assheton-Smith, Mrs Robert Scott of Danesfield oil on canvas 125.5 x 100 cm National Trust, Waddesdon Manor, near Aylesbury, UK |
1785 Infant Hercules Strangling Serpents
In 1785 Reynolds was commissioned by Catherine II of Russia to paint a picture for her on any historical subject. The precise choice of theme was left to him. Reynolds decided not to show any concrete event, preferring the universal language of Classical mythology. He selected one of Pindar's Nemean Odes. The infant Hercules, son of Alcmene and Zeus, became the object of the bitter jealousy of Zeus's wife Hera, who sent two huge serpents to kill him. But to the surprise of those around, hurrying to save the child, the infant himself dealt easily with the monsters. In this subject the artist saw an analogy with the might of the young but powerful Russian empire. Exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1788, the painting met with a mixed response, from the most critical to the most eulogistic. This was the height of the expression of Reynolds's classicising tendencies, founded on the universality and significance of ideas captured in concrete form. The artist preferred the study of Old Masters, particularly the work of the Flemish artists and of Rembrandt, to the study of monuments from Classical Antiquity. Unfortunately, Reynolds experimented with paints and techniques and the surface of the painting began to show signs of physical distortion and changing colouring even in the 18th century. The painting is interesting in that Reynolds spent more time working on it than on any other work he created, and particularly in that it includes quite a few portraits. The soothsayer Tiresias has a close likeness to the writer and philosopher Samuel Johnson, for instance, while in the features of Hera we see a portrait of the great tragic actress Sarah Siddons.
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| 1786 Infant Hercules strangling Serpents oil on canvas 303 x 297 cm The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia |
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| 1786 John Barker (1707–1787) oil on canvas 173.4 x 120.7 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| 1786 Lady Sunderlin oil on canvas 236 x 145 cm Staatliche Museen, Berlin |
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| 1786 Sir William Forbes of Pitsligo, 1739 - 1806. Banker and author oil on canvas 76.2 x 63.5 cm Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, UK |
1786-77 A Child’s Portrait in Different Views
The five year old Lady Frances Gordon sat to Reynolds for this unusual portrait in July and August 1786, and again in March 1787. Reynolds generally had very few portrait appointments during the summer months, reserving this time for work on character studies (known as "fancy pictures") and subject pictures. It is not perhaps surprising, therefore, that the present compostion, which is composed of a series of studies of Frances Gordon's head from five different angles, is far more reminiscent of Reynolds's fancy pictures than his portraits of named sitters.
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| 1786-77 A Child’s Portrait in Different Views: ‘Angel’s Heads’ oil on canvas 74.9 x 62.9 cm Tate Gallery, London |
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| c1786 Lesbia oil on canvas 74.9 x 62.2 cm Tate Gallery, London |
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| c1787 William Hunter (1718–1783) oil on canvas 127 x 101.6 cm The Hunterian, University of Glasgow, UK |
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| c1787 Lavinia Bingham, Countess Spencer oil on canvas 76.5 x 63.8 cm The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA |
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| 1787-79 Patrick Home, 1728-1808 oil on canvas 76.5 x 63.7 cm Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, UK |
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| 1787 William Windham oil on canvas 74.9 x 62.2 cm National Portrait Gallery, London |
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| 1787 Master Philip Yorke oil on canvas 127 x 101.6 cm English Heritage, Kenwood, London |
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| 1787 Lord Heathfield of Gibraltar oil on canvas 142 x 113.5 cm The National Gallery, London |
1787 Lady Smith (Charlotte Delaval) and Her Children
The fashionably dressed mother of this family portrait appears lost in thought, while her children romp by her side, aiming playfully sly glances at the viewer. The portrait was commissioned by the family’s father and husband, a baronet and member of Parliament. Expressing cultural ideals of femininity and upper-class childhood, this portrait was a popular exhibit at the Royal Academy in the year it was painted.
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| 1787 Lady Smith (Charlotte Delaval) and her children (George Henry, Louisa, and Charlotte) oil on canvas 140.7 x 112.1 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
1788 Cupid untying the Zone of Venus
This is an autograph version of Reynolds's famous picture of 1784, painted for Lord Carysfort (now Tate Gallery, London). Carysfort, who visited Russia on a number of occasions, asked the artist to make the copy as a gift for Prince Grigory Potyomkin. In this work of charming but sensuous intimacy - Reynolds originally suggested it should be called "Half Consenting" - the goddess of beauty and love, Venus, is a coquettish young woman, hiding her face from immodest glances with her arm. Mischievous Cupid is pulling at the end of the blue silk ribbon which encircles her waist, looking attentively up at his mother to watch her reaction. It is possible that the model for the original painting was Emma, Lady Hamilton, famous as the mistress of Lord Nelson.
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| 1788 Cupid untying the Zone of Venus oil on canvas 125.5 x 101 cm The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia |
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| 1788 Felina with a Kitten oil on canvas 76.8 x 63.8 cm Detroit Institute of Art, MI |
1788 Mrs Jane Braddyll
Jane Gale was the daughter and sole heir of Matthias Gale of Catgill Hall, Cumberland. In 1776 she married her cousin, Wilson Gale (1755–1818) of Conishead Priory, who adopted the additional surname of Braddyll the same year. Braddyll became an MP and Groom of the Bedchamber to George III. Mrs Braddyll, who also sat to Romney in 1777 and Hoppner in 1788, was painted by Reynolds in 1788. Surprisingly, the 4th Marquess of Hertford purchased it sight unseen, despite being informed by his agent Samuel Mawson that it was not in very good condition. The artist and female subject seem to have overcome his doubts. Normally cautious with regard to condition and restoration, he wrote to Mawson after the sale: ‘Pray arrange the Reynolds in your best manner that I should find Mrs. Bradyll a few years younger than she is at present.’
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| 1788 Mrs Jane Braddyll oil on oak panel 75.5 x63.4 cm The Wallace Collection, London |
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| 1788 Sir Thomas Rumbold, Bt. oil on canvas 126.7 x 101.3 cm Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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| 1788 The Cottagers oil on canvas 241.3 x 180.3 cm. Detroit Institute of Art, MI |
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| 1788 The Thames from Richmond Hill oil on canvas 91 x 110.5 cm Tate Gallery, London |
1788-89 Portrait of Francis George Hare
Francis George Hare, shown here at the age of two, was the eldest son of Francis Hare Naylor (1753-1815), writer, and his first wife, née Georgiana Shipley (d. 1806), amateur painter, friend of Reynolds. Painted in 1788-1789 for the sitter's aunt, Lady Jones, née Anna Maria Shipley, wife of the orientalist painter Sir William Jones. - Engraved in 1790 by Robert Thew under the title Infancy.
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| 1788-89 Portrait of Francis George Hare (1786-1842) known as Master Hare and also known as Infancy (School of Sir Joshua Reynolds) oil on canvas 77 x 64 cm Louvre Museum, Paris |
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| 1788-89 The Holy Family with the Infant St John oil on canvas 198.1 x 149.2 cm Tate Gallery, London |
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| c1788 Maria Anne Fitzherbert (née Smythe) oil on canvas 91.4 x 71.1 cm National Portrait Gallery, London |
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| c1788 Self Portrait oil on panel 75.1 x 63.4 cm Royal Collection Trust, UK |
c1788 The Age of Innocence
This picture, presented to the National Gallery in 1847, and subsequently transferred to Tate in 1951, has for many years been among Reynolds's best known works. In the nineteenth century it was deeply admired and frequently copied, National Gallery records revealing that between its acquisition and the end of the century no fewer than 323 full-scale copies in oil were made.
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| c1788 The Age of Innocence oil on canvas 76.5 x 63.8 cm Tate Gallery, London |
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| 1789 before Mary (d.1789), Countess of Lauderdale oil on canvas 75 x 60.2 cm Thirlestane Castle, Lauder, Scotland |
1789 Continence of Scipio
In 1785 the British diplomat Lord Carysfort was entrusted with a commission to Reynolds for two paintings, one for Catherine the Great of Russia, and the other for her favourite friend and adviser, Prince Grigory Potyomkin. The artist himself was to choose the subject. For Potyomkin's painting, Reynolds settled on a subject from Livy's History of Rome. Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (c. 235 - c. 183 BC), military commander and hero of the Second Punic War, showing virtue and great restraint (or "continence"), returns a beautiful captive Carthaginian woman to her fiance. This was a very obvious hint at the virtue of Potyomkin himself - a renowned general, he led the Russian army in campaigns against Turkey. The composition is based on a contrast between the powerful figure of the hero, calm and unshaking, and the tender captive, almost fainting from the endured misfortunes. The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1789 and met with a mixed reaction. Some criticized the overloaded composition as a major defect, others noticed the beautiful colouring, "equal to the finest works of the Flemish School.”
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| 1789 Continence of Scipio oil on canvas 239.5 x 165.5 cm The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia |
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| 1789 Mrs Siddons as the Tragic Muse oil on canvas 239.7 x 147.6 cm Dulwich Picture Gallery, London |
1789 Mrs. Lewis Thomas Watson
Mrs. Lewis Thomas Watson was an only daughter and an heiress. The painting is one of two versions; the other is presumed to be still in the family of her descendants. Even before the first was finished, the second was begun, ordered for or by the sitter’s father. Reynolds charged his standard price of one hundred guineas for each, indicating that both were in great part if not entirely painted by him. The white muslin dress and black satin hat were the height of fashion.
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| 1789 Mrs. Lewis Thomas Watson (Mary Elizabeth Milles, 1767–1818) oil on canvas 127 x 101.6 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
1789-90 Francis Rawdon-Hastings
Both Frederick, Duke of York, and his elder brother George, Prince of Wales (later George IV), were close friends of the Marquess of Hastings (1754-1826). A contemporary report suggests that Hastings commissioned this portrait as a gift for the Duke of York, who gave Hastings his portrait in return. George IV, who had already exchanged portraits with Hastings as a mark of friendship, purchased this painting at the posthumous sale of the Duke of York's collection in 1827.
Hastings's appointments as Governor-General of Bengal in 1813 and Governor of Malta in 1824 were the culmination of a successful military career. He is depicted wearing the undress uniform of a colonel while ADC to George III, an appointment he held from 1782 until 1793.
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| 1789-90 Francis Rawdon-Hastings, First Marquess of Hastings oil on canvas 240.3 x 148.3 cm Royal Collection Trust, London |
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| c1789 Cupid and Psyche oil on canvas 139.8 x 168.3 cm The Courtauld Gallery, London |
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| before 1790 Thomas Warton (1728–1790), Professor of Poetry and Fellow of Trinity College oil on canvas 73.2 x 59.4 cm Trinity College, University of Oxford, UK |
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| n.d. 'Reflection': A Seated Girl with a Bunch of Grapes oil on canvas 77.5 x 64 cm National Trust, Petworth House, Petworth, UK |
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| n.d. A Lady, said to be Miss Reynolds oil on canvas 60 x 49.7 cm V&A Museum, London |
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