Joshua Reynolds

Kingdom of Great Britain·1723-1792

Joshua Reynolds mastered the art of conversation in paint. Born in Devon in 1723, he trained under London portrait-painter Thomas Hudson before embarking in 1749 with Commodore Keppel to the Mediterranean, where two years in Rome studying the Old Masters shaped his artistic vision. Settling in London in 1753, he became the city's most sought-after portraitist, commanding fees of 100 guineas by the 1760s and maintaining a prolific studio that produced over 2,000 works. Reynolds championed the "Grand Style," elevating portraiture through idealized compositions and literary allusions. In 1768, he became the first president of the newly founded Royal Academy of Arts, a position he held until his death in 1792, and was knighted in 1769. Beyond his own masterpieces—particularly his celebrated portraits of children and full-length society paintings—Reynolds shaped British art through his influential Discourses, establishing both the professional dignity of the artist and a systematic theory of painting that defined the era.