Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 8.djvu/90

 25G ARTISTS AND AUTHORS SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS By Samuel Archer (1 723-1 792) Sir Joshua Reynolds, the celebrated painter, was, on July 16, 1723, born at Plympton, a small town in Devonshire, England. His father was a min- ister of the parish, and also master of the grammar school ; and being a man of learning and philan- thropy, he was beloved and respected by all to whom he was known. Such a man, it will naturally be supposed, was assiduous in the cultivation of the minds of his children, among whom his son Joshua shone conspicuous, by displaying at a very early period a superiority of genius and the rudiments of a correct taste. Unlike other boys, who generally content themselves with giving a literal explanation of their author, regardless of his beauties or his faults, young Reynolds attended to both these, displaying a happy knowledge of what he read, and entering with ardor into the spirit of his author. He discovered likewise talents for composition, and a natural propen- sity to drawing, in which his friends and intimates thought him qualified to excel. Emulation was a distinguishing characteristic of his mind, which his father per. ceived with the delight natural to a parent ; and designing him for the church, in which he hoped that his talents might raise him to eminence, he sent him to one of the universities. Soon after this period he grew passionately fond of painting ; and by the perusal of Richardson's theory of that art was determined to make it his profes- sion through life. At his own earnest request, therefore, he was removed to Lon- don ; and about the year 1742 became a pupil to Mr. Hudson, who, though not himself an eminent painter, was preceptor to many who afterward excelled in the art. One of the first advices which he gave to Mr. Reynolds was to copy care- fully Guercino's drawings. This was done with such skill, that many of the copies are said to be now preserved in the cabinets of the curious as the originals of that very great master. About the year 1749, Mr. Reynolds went to Italy under the auspices, and in the company, of the late Lord (then Commodore) Keppel, who was appointed to the command of the British squadron in the Mediterranean. In this garden of the world, this magic seat of arts, he failed not to visit the schools of the great masters, to study the productions of different ages, and to contemplate with un- wearied attention the various beauties which are characteristic of each. His labor