Reynolds

Reynolds, Sir Joshua (1723-92), painter, was the son of a Devonshire rector, and was educated at Plympton, his native place. His taste for drawing led his father to send him to London in 1741 to study under Hudson, then a prominent portrait-painter. He stayed with the latter three years, and then practised the profession on his own account in London and elsewhere. His first noteworthy work was a portrait of Keppe', who gave him a passage to the Mediterranean. He visited all the principal Italian cities, and saw all the great works of art, finally returning, after a short stay in Paris, in 1752, after an absence of several years. Whilst in Italy he lost his hearing, and this infirmity has been often alluded to by his contemporaries. He settled in St. Martin's Lane, and began to paint portraits, securing gradually most of the fashion and beauty and intellect of the day among his clients, and his prices rose from ten guineas to hundreds for a portrait. In 1761 he went to reside in Leicester Square, and his house became the resort of all the most important men of the day. He numbered among his warmest friends Burke, Goldsmith, Garrick, and Johnson, and founded the well-known "Literary Club" with their aid. On the starting of the Royal Academy in 1768, he was made its president and was knighted. He never married, and on his death left a fortune of £80,000 to a niece. He was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral. Reynolds, though unquestionably one of the first of English painters, was often careless in his work, and some of his colour has faded; but his portraits are so valuable a possession that his name is probably more honoured than those of many greater artists. As a writer on art he also obtained a good reputation, his Fifteen Biscourses on Art being still held in high estimation. The National Gallery possesses many fine portraits by him.