Sir Joshua Reynolds was born on 16 July 1723 at Plymouth Earls, Devon, England. He died on 23 February 1792 at age 68 at London, England. He was buried at St. Paul's Cathedral, The City, London, England.

Parents: He was the son of Reverend Samuel Reynolds and Theophilia Potter.[1]

Reynolds was the first President of the Royal Academy of Art and was the leading portrait artist of his day.

Summary

• from the Dictionary of National Biography, Joshua Reynolds, by William Cosmo Monkhouse:

Reynolds was the greatest portrait-painter that England has produced, and one of the greatest painters of the world. Mr. Ruskin ranks him among the ‘seven supreme colourists,’ the others being Titian, Giorgione, Correggio, Tintoretto, Veronese, and Turner, and says:

‘Considered as a painter of individuality in the human form and mind, I think him, even as it is, the prince of portrait-painters. Titian paints nobler pictures and Vandyck had nobler subjects, but neither of them entered so subtly as Sir Joshua did into the minor varieties of human heart and temper’ (The Two Paths, Lect. 2).

Without any physical advantages—for he was neither tall nor handsome, and had the great social drawback of deafness—he secured without seeking, and maintained without effort, a position in society which is almost unrivalled. Treating all men on the plain level of common human nature and unactuated by any prejudice, he mixed, as by natural charter, with all classes. His principal passports were kindliness, sincerity, and tolerance; but these were aided by a ready sympathy, a well-informed mind, gentle manners, and invariable tact and common-sense. The charm of his presence and conversation was all the more irresistible because it was unforced and unfeigned.

The keynote of his whole life was his art—whether consciously or not he acted up to the ideal of a perfect portrait-painter—whose business was not to criticise but to observe, not to direct but to reflect the currents of society.

'I go,’ he said, ‘with the great stream of life.’

Links

• Sir Joshua Reynolds Works Online
• Royal Academy of Arts - Works of Art, Books & Archives for Sir Joshua Reynolds
• Olga's Gallery
• Sir Joshua Reynolds
• Search results for ebooks
• Reynolds,_Joshua_(DNB00) Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 48 Reynolds, Joshua by William Cosmo Monkhouse
• the peerage
• findagrave

Citations

1. [S1221] Michael Ashworth, "re: Palmer Family," e-mail message to Darryl Lundy, 18 December 2004 - 3 November 2005. Hereinafter cited as "re: Palmer Family."
2. [S130] Wikipedia, online http;//www.wikipedia.org. Hereinafter cited as Wikipedia.
3. [S3409] Caroline Maubois, "re: Penancoet Family," e-mail message to Darryl Roger Lundy, 2 December 2008. Hereinafter cited as "re: Penancoet Family."