Sir Joshua Reynolds was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was a founder and first president of the Royal Academy of Arts, and was knighted by George III in 1769.
| Born: | Joshua Reynolds, July 16, 1723, Plympton, Devon, England |
| Died: | February 23, 1792, Leicester Fields, London, England |
| Resting place: | St Paul's Cathedral |
| Nationality: | British |
| Education: | Plympton Free Grammar School |
| Notable work: | The Age of Innocence |
About Joshua Reynolds
Remembered for his portraits of Edward Cornwallis, Lady Caroline Howard, and other prominent figures, this eighteenth-century artist co-founded and served as president of the Royal Academy of Arts.
Before Fame
At the age of seventeen, he became an apprentice to the London-based portrait artist Thomas Hudson.
Achievement
He painted in the "Grand Manner" common among his artistic contemporaries, meaning that his paintings idealized his subjects' imperfections.
Family Life
His older sister, Mary Palmer, was a prominent writer; her best known work is a vernacular piece titled Devonshire Dialogue.
Associations
He painted a 1784 portrait of the Welsh actress Sarah Siddons.
Information related to Joshua Reynolds
- Joshua Reynolds Category
- English art - English art is the body of visual arts made in England. England has Europe's earliest and northernmost ice-age cave art.
- Grand manner - Grand Manner refers to an idealized aesthetic style derived from classicism and the art of the High Renaissance. In the eighteenth century, British artists and connoisseurs used the term to describe paintings that incorporated visual metaphors in order to suggest noble qualities.
- Mary Nesbitt , eighteenth-century courtesan who began her career as Reynolds' model.
- Martin Postle , an expert on Joshua Reynolds.
- Principal Painters in Ordinary
- Streathamites
- Burials at St Paul's Cathedral
- Artist authors
- English portrait painters
- 18th-century English painters
- Fellows of the Royal Society of Arts
- Royal Academicians
