"A portrait is a picture in which there is just a tiny little something not quite right about the mouth." -- John Singer Sargent

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Joshua Reynolds



This 1784 portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds by Gilbert Stuart hangs in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.
"Sir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA 16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an influential eighteenth-century English painter, specialising in portraits. He promoted the 'Grand Style' in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was a founder and first president of the Royal Academy of Arts, and was knighted by George III in 1769...

In appearance Reynolds was not striking. Slight, he was about 5'6" with dark brown curls, a florid complexion and features which James Boswell thought were 'rather too largely and strongly limned.' He had a broad face and a cleft chin, and the bridge of his nose was slightly dented; his skin was scarred by smallpox and his upper lip disfigured as a result of falling from a horse as a young man. Edmond Malone asserted that 'his appearance at first sight impressed the spectator with the idea of a well-born and well-bred English gentleman.'" -- Wikipedia

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