Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 48.djvu/62

 pastellist and miniature-painter, who came to London in 1753 and stayed two years. The well-known full-length portrait of Captain Keppel in an attitude of command on the seashore, with a stormy background, is said to have done most to establish his reputation. The motive was suggested by the exertions of Keppel in saving the crew of his ship, the Maidstone, after her wreck in 1747; and the attitude of the figure, although taken from a statue, is full of living grace and energy. His success was so great that the number of his sitters increased to 120 in 1755, to 150 in 1758, and to 156 (his busiest year) in 1759. He raised his prices to fifteen guineas for a head, thirty for a half-length, and sixty for a full-length; and in 1759 to twenty for a head and the rest in proportion. In this period, 1753–60, he painted three members of the royal family (the Duke of Cumberland and Prince Edward in 1758, and the Prince of Wales, afterwards George III, in 1759); at least twelve dukes, beginning with the Duke of Grafton in 1755, and several of their duchesses, with very many other peers and persons of wealth and fashion, including several belonging to the Devonshire families, like the Bastards, Molesworths, Bullers, and Mrs. Horneck. It was in these years also that he painted both the lovely Misses Gunning (Lady Coventry and the Duchess of Hamilton, afterwards Duchess of Argyll), the famous (but now, alas! much restored) ‘Mrs. Pelham feeding Chickens,’ Horace Walpole (one of his greatest admirers and most capricious critics), Sterne, Foote, Giardini (the violinist), and his first portrait of Dr. Johnson (whom he painted five times), Garrick, the beautiful Maria, countess of Waldegrave (both of whom he painted seven times), and the two famous courtesans, Kitty Fisher and Nelly O'Brien. Reynolds's art during this period is represented in the National Gallery by the Lord Ligonier on horse-back, Captain Orme standing beside his horse, and the exquisite portrait of Anne, countess of Albemarle (mother of his friend Keppel).

To keep pace with the demands for his portraits, Reynolds employed Peter Toms [q. v.] as an assistant, in addition to Marchi, and he also received Thomas Beach and Hugh Barron as pupils, to be followed hereafter by Powell, Doughty, and others, who no doubt were also employed upon his pictures. ‘No man,’ he said, ‘ever made a fortune with his own hands.’ He now began to make a good deal of money, and in a few years' time, when he raised his prices, his income reached five or six thousand a year; but, instead of saving, he spent his money in purchasing the finest pictures he could get, which he regarded as the best kind of wealth. Meanwhile his success in society was equal to that in his profession. His manner and conversation were so agreeable that many sitters of all ranks became his friends; and to the Keppels, the Edgcumbes, and other Devonshire families of position were soon added many more of rank and fashion, at whose houses he was a welcome guest and who visited him in return. Then his leisure was much taken up with dinners, evening assemblies, card-parties, and suppers, almost daily notes of which are to be found in his pocket-books. He had also commenced his connection with some of those eminent men who formed the inner intellectual circle of his companions in life—with Garrick, at least, and Goldsmith, and Johnson, with whom he became acquainted about 1753. The doctor, who then lived in Gough Square, was a constant visitor in Great Newport Street, for he had a great liking and esteem for Miss Reynolds, whom he called his ‘dearest dear,’ as well as for her brother; and among other attractions of the house was tea, which was served three times a day. John Wilkes, whom he had known since his youth, was also a special friend. Though he had more than an ordinary acquaintanceship with many artists—with Wilton, Hayman, Chambers, Cotes, Gilbert Stuart, and more especially with Hudson, Allan Ramsay (whom he loved, but did not think highly of as a painter), Benjamin West, and James (Athenian) Stuart—he does not seem to have greatly cultivated the private society of his professional brethren. There was little sympathy between Hogarth and Reynolds, either in character or in opinions upon art, and neither of these two great artists had a right appreciation of the other's powers. Nor did Reynolds fraternise with Wilson, nor with Gainsborough, though this was not his fault. There are, however, records of visits to the Artists' Club at Slaughter's coffee-house, and he was much concerned in the promotion of those schemes for the establishment of an academy of arts which preceded the foundation of the Royal Academy. He is thought by Charles Robert Leslie [q. v.] to have composed the paper in which one such scheme was laid before the Dilettanti Society in 1755. It was while he was still living in Great Newport Street that he first showed his capacity as a thinker and writer on art by three papers contributed to the ‘Idler’ (see Nos. 76, 79, 82). The first was on ‘Connoisseurship,’ the second on ‘Imitation of Nature,’ and the third on ‘Beauty,’ and they all contained