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Joshua Reynolds

Joshua Reynolds Quotes

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Famous Joshua Reynolds Quotes

“It is to Titian we must turn our eyes to find excellence with regard to color, and light and shade, in the highest degree. He was both the first and the greatest master of this art. By a few strokes he knew how to mark the general image and character of whatever object he attempted.”

FirstsArtCharacterLightEyeTurnsObjectsColorMastersDegreesHighestMarkRegardExcellenceShadeStrokes
Book:Discourses on Painting and the Fine Arts, Delivered at the Royal Academy
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“An artist who brings to his work a mind tolerably furnished with the general principles of art, and a taste formed upon the works of good artists – in short, who knows in what excellence consists - will, with the assistance of models... be an overmatch for the greatest painter that ever lived who should be debarred such advantages.”

KnowsShouldMindArtArtistPrinciplesTasteModelsAdvantageExcellencePainterAssistanceGood ArtGood Artist
Book:Discourses on Painting and the Fine Arts, delivered at the Royal Academy. With a portrait
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“But young men have not only this frivolous ambition of being thought masters of execution, inciting them on the one hand, but also their natural sloth tempting them on the other. They are terrified at the prospect before them, of the toil required to attain exactness. The impetuosity of youth is disgusted at the slow approaches of a regular siege, and desires, from mere impatience of labour, to take the citadel by storm. They wish to find some shorter path to excellence, and hope to obtain the reward of eminence by other means, than those which the indispensable rules of art have prescribed.”

MenMeanArtHandsYoungDesireWishNaturalPathYouthMastersAmbitionApproachExcellenceMereRewardsStormYoung ManLabourExecutionTerrifiedIndispensableToilImpatienceSlothTemptingFrivolousDisgustedSiegeEminenceExactnessCitadels
Book:The Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds: Containing His Discourses, Idlers, A Journey to Flanders and Holland, and His Commentary on Du Fresnoy's Art of Painting; to which is Prefixed an Account of the Life and Writings of the Author by Edward Malone
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“Excellence is never granted to man, but as the reward of labour.”

MenExcellenceRewardsGrantedLabour
Book:The Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds: Containing His Discourses, Idlers, A Journey to Flanders and Holland, and His Commentary on Du Fresnoy's Art of Painting; to which is Prefixed an Account of the Life and Writings of the Author by Edward Malone
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“Excellence is never granted to man but as the reward of labor. It argues no small strength of mind to persevere in habits of industry without the pleasure of perceiving those advances, which, like the hand of a clock, whilst they make hourly approaches to their point, yet proceed so slowly as to escape observation.”

MenMindHandsPleasureIndustryHabitApproachLaborExcellenceRewardsArguingObservationGrantedClockPersevereStrength Of Mind
Book:Seven Discourses on Art
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“The excellence of every art, must consist in the complete accomplishment of its purpose”

ArtPurposeExcellenceAccomplishment
Book:The Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds: Containing His Discourses, Idlers, A Journey to Flanders and Holland, and His Commentary on Du Fresnoy's Art of Painting; to which is Prefixed an Account of the Life and Writings of the Author by Edward Malone
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