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Classic portraits from England
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Joshua Reynolds's work was characterised by calm dignity, classical allusion, rich colours, bold brushwork and the use of impasto
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PERFECTLY IMPERFECT Joshua Reynolds' Infant Hercules Strangling the Serpents Sent by Hera
Born on July 16, 1723, in Plympton, Devonshire, Joshua Reynolds was the most influential artist in England in the latter half of the 18th Century. Reynolds considered himself an average painter but was dedicated to improving his oeuvre and as well as elevating the status of the artist in England. Though his father wanted him to apprentice with an apothecary, Reynolds persuaded him to let him study under an artist. He was then apprenticed to London's society painter Thomas Hudson between 1740 and 1743. Reynolds travelled to Rome in 1749 where he was deeply influenced by the Grand Manner (where the imperfect is idealised) of the baroque style as well as masters like Michelangelo, Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese, Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony Van Dyck. However, he contracted a cold in the drafty galleries, which led to permanent deafness.
On his return to London in 1752, Reynolds quickly established himself as portrait painter. He made a calculated decision to cultivate the rich and the famous and with his charm and wit soon counted among his friends essayist Samuel Johnson, actor David Garrick, playwright Richard Brinkley Sheridan, statesman Edmund Burke and writers Oliver Goldsmith and James Boswell.
In 1764, he started the Literary Club and with the institution of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768, he was elected its President. King George III knighted him the next year.
It was in the Royal Academy that Reynolds began the practice of the Annual Discourse, considered by many to be an authoritative work of art theory and criticism.
His work can be distinguished from that of his rival Gainsborough as being more idealised with a calm dignity, classical allusion, rich colours, bold brushwork and the use of impasto. Unfortunately, his experiments with colour, especially bitumen, led to poor preservation.
Reynolds never married and his sister Frances kept a splendid house for him where he entertained lavishly. He suffered a paralytic stroke in 1782. Credited with over 2,000 works, Reynolds had to give up painting after he lost sight in his left eye in 1789. He died on February 23, 1792.
MINI ANTHIKAD-CHHIBBER
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