Ending Reynolds posts with my favourite female portrait that is perhaps my favourite painting by him in general : Mrs. Siddons as the Tragic Muse, 1784.
I think I have posted it before, when I was writing about poor Thomas Gainsborough who painted her too; she was a Welsh actress, one of the greatest of her time, famous mainly for Shakespearean roles such as Lady Macbeth.
Read all about this painting here http://goo.gl/T1A9N
Jane, Countess of Harrington (1775) by Joshua Reynolds
One of the most beautiful female portraits by sir Joshua Reynolds :)
Jane Fleming was born in 1755, the eldest of five children of Sir John Fleming and his wife Jane Colman John Fleming’s death in 1763 brought Jane (as co-heir with her sisters) a staggering fortune of £100,000. On March 29, 1770, when she was about fifteen, her mother married Edwin Lascelles, a wealthy West Indian sugar grower, who was created 1st Baron Harewood in 1790. At the age of twenty-three, Jane became engaged to a glamorous war hero, Charles Stanhope, Viscount Petersham (1753-1829), a lieutenant colonel in the 3rd Foot Guards. He had been in America serving as General Burgoyne’s aide-de-camp since February 1776, and returned to England in late December 1777 to find himself the idol of the female population.
The new Countess of Harrington immediately garnered praise for her generosity in settling her husband’s debts and funding the re-purchase of Stable Yard House in St. James’s, London. Her money also enabled Lord Harrington to raise an infantry regiment, which she accompanied to Jamaica in 1780. On their return to England the following year, Lord Harrington was appointed aide-de-camp to the king, and Lady Harrington became prominent in fashionable circles. She was singled out (along with Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire) as one of “the best dressed ladies” at an all-night party hosted by the duchess in September 1782.
Read on http://goo.gl/ia4Xb
Colonel Acland and Lord Sydney: The Archers 1769 - 1770, since 2005 in Tate Gallery
Out of these two John Dyke Acland (at right) is the interesting one :) Acland was an officer who participated in invasion of northern New York in 1777; during this he was shot through the legs and taken prisoner. His wife, Lady Harriet, was allowed into the American camp and was well-treated by the American soldiers. Upon returning to England Acland spoke well of the Americans; more than that he challenged one Lieutenant Lloyd to a duel when he spoke ill of them at some dinner party. Unfortunately,even though he managed to survive the duel, he caught a cold during it from which he died in 1778.
The work portrays the two men holding each a bow, while the shotgun was the more popular choice of weapon at the time. These two bow-wielding men can be seen in the clearing of a forest. They are both garbed in archer clothing; their hunted prey lies close to their feet. Their facial expressions, coupled with Cosby’s eagerness and poise, suggest that they are both preparing to loose an arrow at an approaching animal. Distantly in the background, a river, a clump of trees, and a meadow can be seen. Further back, at the skyline mountain peaks can be seen below thick grey clouds.
The portrait shares the same textural schemes and design of several other works by Reynolds. The allusion to the classical era is apparent in both the clothing worn by the two aristocrats, and their choice of weapon.
Sir Joshua Reynolds - Commodore Augustus Keppel, 1949 and 1752 andSelf-portrait as a Deaf Man
Reynolds met naval officer Augustus Keppel in 1749; the two struck such a good friendship that soon the commodore invited his new friend to sale with him on the Centurion, to the Mediterranean. Reynolds of course accepted right away : this way he had the opportunity to visit Italy :)
The trip lasted until 1752; during these years of voyage Reynolds stayed in Italy for two years, studying old masters. While in Italy he lost his hearing due to one severe cold. It was than that he painted another of his self-portraits depicting himself as a deaf man. The portrait of Keppel was painted upon their return as a thank you present to his friend; Keppel was later to become a national hero. The two of them remained friends for life.
Read more : http://goo.gl/1Ieme
One of my favourite paintings by Reynolds is one of his self-portraits - the one painted around 1747, when he was 24 :)
You must have no dependence on your own genius. If you have great talents, industry will improve them; if you have but moderate abilities, industry will supply their deficiency.
— Sir Joshua Reynolds
Another birthday today - that of one Joshua Reynolds, knighted him in 1769 by King George III, which is why we call him Sir ;)
Sir Joshua Reynolds is mostly known as a portrait painter : along with Thomas Gainsborough he was the leading portraitist of this age; some believe that during his career he painted about 3000 portraits ! Other than that, and maybe more importantly, Sir Reynolds was one of the founders and the first President of the Royal Academy of Art. Highly intellectual himself, extremely well educated, he had many friends among the English intellectual and artistic elite. In 1784 he even became Principal Painter in Ordinary to the King, instead of poor Gainsborough and on his own insistence, which he would later regret, saying it is a miserable post. Not long after that he lost his sight in the left eye and thus had to finish his career as a painter.
William Makepeace Thackeray thought that of all the polite men of that age, Joshua Reynolds was the finest gentleman while his sister Florence, who was his housekeeper deemed him a gloomy tyrant; he died in 1792, aged 68 and was buried at St Paul’s Cathedral. Sixty years later, his admirer J. M. W. Turner requested to be buried by his side.
Self portraits of Sir Joshua Reynolds, the second one with papers reading Disegni del Divino Michelagnolo Bon… … the drawings of divine Michelagnolo :)
