Sir Joshua Reynolds

Discourses on Art — first president of the Royal Academy

The intellectual leader of English painting and first president of the Royal Academy. His Discourses on Art established the theoretical framework for British art; his portraits elevated English sitters to the grandeur of the Old Masters. The Grand Manner — painting with the ambition of Raphael and Michelangelo — was his program.

Key works

• Discourses on Art1769-1790— 15 lectures — the theory of English painting
  Text — lectures delivered at Royal Academy, London
• Three Ladies Adorning a Term of Hymen1773— The Montgomery sisters as classical allegory
  Tate Britain, London

Connections

External