Sir Joshua Reynolds English portrait painter of

Sir Joshua Reynolds – English portrait painter of the 18 th century (1723 -1792)

Joshua Reynolds was born into the family of Reynolds, who held the post of headmaster in a local grammar school, which Joshua attended as The monument to an artist a boy. The young in the Royal Academy's yard. Reynolds received a good classical education; he loved literature and became well-read in classical Greek and Roman authors. He revealed his interest in and talent for painting rather early.

Since 1768 Sir Joshua Reynolds was the first president of the Royal Academy. He was the president for 24 years and created in the academy a body of highly skilled professional artist. Burlington House – the Royal Academy of Arts

His work is characteristic of a rare artistic variety combining the dignity and greatness of Grand Manner with feelings, fine psychological observations and artistic freedom. There are not many artists in history who were able to render such an exceptional combination of emotions and technique. The models in these works are idealized and very often the subjects are Greek and Roman deities.

The other type of portraiture - he usually painted people he knew well in this style - is intimate, without spectacular attributes, and psychologically subtle. The portraits of children and women are lyrical and straightforward.

The Eliot Family. c. 1746. Oil on canvas. 87 x. Trustees of the St Germans Estate, Port Eliot. Back in Devon in 1746, he painted a large group portrait of the “Eliot Family” (c. 1746/47), which clearly indicates that he had studied the large-scale portrait of the “Pembroke Family” (1634– 35) by the Flemish Baroque painter Sir Anthony Van Dyck, whose style of portrait painting influenced English portraiture throughout the 18 th century.

Robert Shafto (1732 -1797) was a man of fashion who married two heiresses in turn. His charm and extravagance were celebrated in the popular nursery rhyme "Bobby Shafto": Bobby Shafto’s gone to sea, With silver buckles on his knee; He’ll come back and marry me, Bonny Bobby Shafto! Bobby Shafto’s fat and fair, Combing down his yellow hair; He’s my love for evermore, Bonny Bobby Shafto. Robert Shafto. 1756. Oil on canvas. 125 x 99. 5 sm. Private Collection.

Man in a Brown Coat. Oil on canvas. 76 x 63. 5 cm. 1748. Marble Hill House, Twichenham, English Heritage, UK

Miss Thorold. 1759. Oil on canvas. 76 x 63. 5. Private Collection.

His official self-portrait shows him in an elegant pose with his glove in his hand, the body fitting nicely into the noble triangular outline which Raphael and Titian had favored, and behind him on the right appears a bust of Michelangelo. Sir Joshua Reynolds self-portrait Oil on canvas

Kitti Fisher with scare, 1763 -1764

Miss Siddons as the Tragic Muse