Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/521

Rh REYNOLDS 503 a portrait painter in St Martin's Lane, London, whence he afterwards removed to Great Newport Street, and finally, in 1760, to Leicester Square, where he continued to paint till his death. His first reception on his return was hardly a favourable one. Hudson called to see his productions and told him, " Reynolds, you don't paint so well as when you left England." Ellis, another accepted portrait painter of the time, who had studied under Kneller, exclaimed, " This will never answer. Why, you don't paint in the least like Sir Godfrey," adding, as he abruptly left the room, " Shakespeare in poetry, Kneller in painting." The verdict of the public, however, was all on the side of the young innovator. Lord Edgcumbe played the part of the generous patron, and exerted himself to obtain com- missions for his protege, of whose ability the portraits which he now produced of the duchess of Hamilton, the countess of Coventry, Lord Holderness, and especially of his old friend Keppel were sufficient guarantee. The artist's painting-room was thronged with the wealth and fashion of London, " with women who wished to be trans- mitted as angels, and with men who wished to appear as heroes and philosophers " ; and he was already afloat upon that tide of prosperity which never ebbed till the day of his death. Various other artists contested with him for popular applause. First the Swiss Liotard had his moment of popularity ; and at a later period there was Opie, and the more formidable and sustained rivalry of Gainsborough and of Romney ; but in the midst of all, then as now, Reynolds maintained an admitted supremacy. And, if the magic of his brush brought him crowds of sitters, his charm qf- manner gathered round him numerous friends. During the first year of his residence in London he had made the acquaintance of Dr Johnson, which, diverse as the two men were, became a friendship for life. To him Burke and Goldsmith, Garrick, Sterne, Bishop Percy, and, it seems, Hogarth, were before long added. At the hospitable dinner table of Reynolds such distin- guished men enjoyed the freest and most unconstrained companionship, and most of them were members of the "Literary Club," established, at the painter's suggestion, in 1764. In 1760 the London world of art was greatly interested by the novel proposal of the Society of Artists to exhibit their works to the public. The hall of the society was at their disposal for the purpose ; and in the month of April an exceedingly successful exhibition was opened, the pre- cursor of many that followed. To this display Reynolds contributed four portraits. In 1765 the association obtained a royal charter, and became known as " The Incorporated Society of Artists"; but much rivalry and jealousy was occasioned by the management of the various exhibitions, and an influential body of painters withdrew from the society, and proceeded to consider the steps that should be taken in order that their corporate existence might be recognized. They had access to the young king, George III., who promised his patronage and help. In December 1768 the Royal Academy was founded, and Reynolds was elected, by acclamation, its first president, an honour which more than compensated for his failure to obtain the appointment of king's painter, which, the pre- vious year, had been bestowed on Allan Ramsay, a more courtly but more commonplace artist. In a few months the king signified his approval of the election by knighting the new president, and intimating that the queen and himself would honour him with sittings for portraits to be presented to the Academy. Reynolds was fitted for his new position no less by his urbane and courteous manner and by his wide general culture than by his eminence as an artist. With unwearied assiduity, with unfailing tact, he devoted himself to furthering the interests of the new Academy. It was at his suggestion that the annual banquet was instituted. To the specified duties of his post he added the delivery of a presidential address at the distribution of the prizes, and his speeches on these occasions form the well-known " discourses " of Sir Joshua. Expressed as they are with simple * elegance and perspicuous directness, these discourses alone would be sufficient to entitle their author to literary distinction ; indeed, when they were first delivered, it was thought impossible that they could be the production of a painter, and Johnson and Burke have been credited with their composition, in spite of the specific denials of both, and of Dr Johnson's indignant exclamation "Sir Joshua, sir, would as soon get me to paint for him as to write for him ! " In the unwearied pursuit of his art, and in the calm enjoyment of his varied friendships, Sir Joshua's life flowed on peacefully and happily enough. He was too prosperous and successful an artist altogether to escape the jealousy of his less fortunate and less capable brethren, and he suffered in this way sometimes, especially from the attacks of Barry, a painter who lived long enough to regret and, so far as he was able, to rectify his fault. In 1784, on the death of Ramsay, Reynolds was appointed painter to the king. Two years previously he had suffered from a paralytic attack ; but, after a month of rest, he was able to resume his painting with unabated energy and power. In the summer of 1789 his sight began to fail ; he was affected by the gutta serena, but the progress of the malady was gradual, and he continued occasionally to practise his art till about the end of 1790. His last years were embittered by a most unfortunate disagreement with the Royal Academy, relative to the appointment of a professor of perspective. Under the impression that there was a conspiracy against him among the various members, he signified his intention of leaving the presidential chair, a resignation which he was after- wards induced to withdraw, and his final discourse was delivered on the 10th December 1790. He was still able to enjoy the companionship of his friends, and he exerted himself in an effort to raise funds for the erection of a monument in St Paul's to Dr Johnson, who had died in 1784. Towards the end of 1791 it was evident to the friends of Reynolds that he was gradually sinking. For a few months he suffered from extreme depression of spirits, the result of a severe form of liver complaint, and on the 23d February 1792 this great artist and blameless gentle- man passed peacefully away. Reynolds' s first discourse deals with the establishment of an academy for the fine arts, and of its value as being a repository of the traditions of the best of bygone practice, of " the principles which many artists have spent their lives in ascertaining. " In the second lecture the study of the painter is divided into three stages, in the first of which he is busied with processes and technicalities, with the grammar of art, while in the second he examines what has been done by other artists, and in the _last compares these results with nature herself. In the third discourse Reynolds treats of "the great and leading principles of the grand style"; and succeeding addresses are devoted to such subjects as "Moderation," "Taste," "Genius," and "Sculpture." The fourteenth has an especial interest as containing an appreciative but discriminating notice of Gainsborough, who had died shortly before its delivery ; while the concluding discourse is mainly occupied with a panegyric on Michelangelo. The other literary works of the president comprise his three essays in The Idler for 1759-60 (" On the Grand Style in Painting," and " On the True Idea of Beauty "), his notes to Du Fresnoy's Art of Painting, his I&marks on the Art of the Low Countries, his brief notes in Johnson's Shak&yxarc, and two singularly witty and brilliant fragments, imaginary conversations with Johnson, which were never intended by their author for publication, but, found among his papers after his death, were given to the world by his niece, the marchioness of Thomond. But the literary works of Reynolds, excellent as these arc, were