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Joshua Reynolds Quotes

Painter

Joshua Reynolds was an influential English painter, recognized for his portraits and landscapes. Born on July 16, 1723, and passing away on February 23, 1792, Reynolds played a significant role in the development of the English portrait school and is often considered the first president of the Royal Academy of Arts.

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Famous Joshua Reynolds Quotes

“The true test of all the arts is not solely whether the production is a true copy of nature, but whether it answers the end of art, which is to produce a pleasing effect upon the mind.”

Mind Art Ends Answers Emotion Effects Produce Art Is Tests Productions Copies

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

Source: 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

“From a slight, undetermined drawing, where the ideas of the composition and character are just touched upon, the imagination supplies more than the painter himself, probably, could produce. And we accordingly often find that the finished work disappoints the expectation that was raised from the sketch.”

Ideas Character Imagination Produce Expectations Raised Finished Drawing Painter Touched Composition Disappoint Supplies Finished Work

Book:The Complete Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds: First President of the Royal Academy : with an Original Memoir, and Anecdotes of the Author

Source: The Complete Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds: First President of the Royal Academy : with an Original Memoir, and Anecdotes of the Author

“A mere copier of nature can never produce any thing great, can never raise and enlarge the conceptions, or warm the heart of the spectator.”

Heart Produce Raises Mere Warm Conception Spectators Copiers

Book:Discourses on Painting and the Fine Arts, delivered at the Royal Academy. With a portrait

Source: Discourses on Painting and the Fine Arts, delivered at the Royal Academy. With a portrait

“A mere copier of nature can never produce anything great.”

Produce Mere Originality Copiers

Author:Joshua Reynolds

“The mind is but a barren soil; a soil which is soon exhausted, and will produce no crop, or only one, unless it be continually fertilized and enriched with foreign matter.”