Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 48.djvu/64

 nection naturally grew upon that side, and ultimately led to his being identified with it as a painter. But together with members of the opposition, we find among his sitters for 1764 George Grenville (he had painted Lord Bute the previous year), Lord Granby, Lord Shelburne—all members of the government—with Lady Mary Coke and Lady Pembroke, who belonged to the court party. Among other evidences of the painter's impartiality we find the names of the archbishops of York and Canterbury beside those of Nelly O'Brien and Kitty Fisher, the most frequent of his sitters (probably not always for their portraits) during the last three years. We find also those of Miss Horneck (Goldsmith's ‘Little Comedy’), afterwards Mrs. Bunbury (he painted her and her sister, the ‘Jessamy bride,’ next year), and Mrs. Abington (in a cardinal), the first of five pictures of this sprightly actress. He had now doubled his prices to one hundred and fifty guineas for a whole-length, seventy for a half-length, &c. To the exhibition of this year he contributed a whole-length of Lady Sarah Bunbury and a three-quarter of the Countess of Waldegrave, now a widow.

This was the year (1764) in which Reynolds founded the most celebrated of all the many clubs to which he belonged. He founded it, he said, to give Dr. Johnson unlimited opportunities of talking. It was soon called the Literary Club, a name not given to it by its members. The original members of this club (still existing as The Club) were Reynolds, Johnson, Burke, Dr. Nugent (Burke's father-in-law), Topham Beauclerk, Bennet Langton, Dr. Goldsmith, Anthony Chamier, and Sir John Hawkins, that ‘most unclubbable man,’ as Dr. Johnson called him. The club met and supped every Monday evening at the Turk's Head in Gerrard Street till 1775, when it was changed to a dinner club, and met only once a fortnight during the session of parliament. Reynolds had a dangerous but short illness this year, which brought a very affectionate letter from Johnson: ‘If I should lose you,’ he says, ‘I should lose almost the only man whom I call a friend.’

In 1765 the Society of Artists was incorporated by royal charter. Reynolds refused to be one of its directors, but his name is attached to the roll declaration of the society of the next year. To the exhibition of 1765 he sent a full-length of Lady Sarah Bunbury (sacrificing to the Graces) and another portrait, and to that of 1766 the affected ‘Mrs. Hale as Euphrosyne,’ his second portrait of the Marquis of Granby (a full-length, with a horse), one of Sir Geoffrey Amherst (in armour), and another of James Paine, the architect, and his son. In this year his pocket-book has many entries of the name of Angelica Kauffmann [q. v.], the only woman with whom there is reason to suppose that he was ever seriously in love. She is sometimes entered as Miss Angel, and once the word ‘fiori’ is set against her name. She sat to Reynolds (in 1766, 1769, and 1777), and Reynolds sat to her (in 1769), and, according to J. T. Smith (see Nollekens and his Times), she disclosed to her visitors that she was ‘dying for Sir Joshua.’ Any declaration on Sir Joshua's part was postponed by her first unfortunate marriage in 1767, and after her separation next year, though they saw much of each other and their names were frequently associated in popular gossip, nothing came of it. Sir Joshua remained her constant admirer and friend through life. In 1766 Reynolds had, however, much to think about and many persons to paint, besides Miss Angel. His friends were in power, and in this year he painted Lord Rockingham, Lord Albemarle, Sir Charles Saunders, the Dukes of Portland and Devonshire, Lord Hardwicke, General Conway, and Burke, all members of the first Rockingham ministry. Among his sitters were also Warren Hastings and Colonel Barré, the two Misses Horneck, Dr. Zachariah Mudge, and Goldsmith. Reynolds also painted the unfortunate Princess Caroline Matilda (shortly to marry the king of Denmark), of whom he told Northcote that he could not make a good picture, as she was in tears all the time she was sitting. He did not, however, exhibit in 1767, and in 1768 he concluded his contributions to the Society of Artists exhibitions with the celebrated portrait of Miss Jessie Cholmondeley (daughter of his lively friend, Mrs. Cholmondeley, sister of Peg Woffington), carrying a dog over a brook. He painted her mother three times, and during these years was a frequent guest of hers, as well as of Mrs. Clive (whom he never painted) and the Thrales. In 1767 and 1768 his pocket-books contain comparatively few new names, but he painted a good many of his old friends over again, including Mr. Parker of Saltram (afterwards Lord Boringdon), Dr. Armstrong, Burke, Foote, and Johnson. In the autumn of 1768 (9 Sept. to 23 Oct.) he made a trip to Paris with Richard Burke, the Dick of Goldsmith's ‘Retaliation,’ and on each of the two days following his return he dined with Goldsmith, with whom his engagements were now very frequent. During his absence the successful scheme for the