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Quote by Joshua Reynolds

Work

A Selection from the Discourses Delivered to the Students of the Royal Academy

The text includes a variety of discourses that likely cover a range of topics pertinent to the students of the Royal Academy, reflecting the intellectual and academic environment of the time. more

Author

Joshua Reynolds
Joshua Reynolds

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. more

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“I do not see in what manner practice alone can be sufficient for the production of correct, excellent, and finished pictures. Works deserving this character never were produced, nor ever will arise, from memory alone.”

CharacterMemoriesPracticeProductionsFinishedAriseExcellentSufficientDeserving
Book:The Complete Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds: First President of the Royal Academy : with an Original Memoir, and Anecdotes of the Author
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“The great end of all arts is to make an impression on the imagination and the feeling. The imitation of nature frequently does this. Sometimes it fails and something else succeeds.”

DoeArtEndsSometimesFeelingsPurposeImaginationFailingSucceedArt IsImpressionImitation
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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“Though colour may appear at first a part of painting merely mechanical, yet it still has its rules, and those grounded upon that presiding principle which regulates both the great and the little in the study of a painter.”

FirstsMayLittlesStillsPrinciplesStudyPaintingPainterColourGrounded
Book:Discourses on Painting and the Fine Arts, delivered at the Royal Academy. With a portrait
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“The spectator, as he walks the gallery, will stop, or pass along. To give a general air of grandeur at first view, all trifling, or artful play of little lights, or an attention to a variety of tints is to be avoided; a quietness and simplicity must reign over the whole work, to which a breadth of uniform and simple color will very much contribute.”

GivingFirstsLittlesPlayWholeLightSimpleWalksViewsAttentionAirColorSimplicityVarietyUniformsReignSpectatorsAvoidedGalleryGrandeurBreadthQuietnessTrifling
Book:The Literary works of sir Joshua Reynolds, first President of 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.”

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Book:Discourses on Painting and the Fine Arts, delivered at the Royal Academy. With a portrait
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“By leaving a student to himself he may... be led to undertake matters above his strength, but the trial will at least have this advantage: it will discover to himself his own deficiencies and this discovery alone is a very considerable acquisition.”

MayMatterTeachingStudentsDiscoveryAdvantageLeavingTrialsAcquisitionDeficiency
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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“Whatever trips you make, you must still have nature in your eye.”

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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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