,illustration3 ,cover art ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------- ,illustration3 ,portrait of ,two ,gentlemen ,portrait of ,two ,gentlemen 7,national ,gallery7 ,this picture was given to the ,national ,gallery in #ahff4 ,the figure on the left is the ,rev ,geo4 ,huddersford1 who1 before he took orders1 studied art with ,sir ,joshua4 ,the other figure1 with violin in right hand1 is ,j4 ,c4 ,w4 ,bamfylde4 ,it is a representative picture enough1 showing how closely the painter observed his sitters and how complete and skilful was his characterisation4 ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------- ,illustration3 ,title page ,,the ,,charm ,,of ,,reynolds ,by ,,james ,,mason ,the ,charm of ,reynolds ,published by ,t4 ,c4 ,e4 ,c4 ,jack ,london and ,edinburgh ,list of ,illustrations ,portrait of ,two ,gentlemen 444 ,frontispiece 7,national ,gallery7 ,nelly ,o',brien 7,wallace ,collection7 ,age of ,innocence 7,national ,gallery7 ,duchess of ,devonshire and ,child 7,chatsworth7 ,the ,charm of ,reynolds ,i4 ,,his ,,art ,,and ,,character ,portraits painted by ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds are a national asset1 and appeal to the general public in this light almost as strongly as they appeal to the smaller section that takes a definite interest in pictures4 ,the value of the portraits varies considerably2 it is probable that the artist produced between four and five thousand in his time1 sometimes completing three or four in a week for years on end1 and even in his more leisured times producing six or seven per month1 so it was of course inevitable that their value should not be equal4 ,the very early work painted in ,devonshire is of little worth4 ,italy opened the eyes of ,joshua ,reynolds as it has opened the eyes of so many ,british artists since his time4 ,fortunate in his life the painter was2 in a certain sense1 unfortunate in his art4 ,the beauty he has committed to canvas had begun to pass before the artist's days were numbered1 and many of his most successful works are to-day no more than a pale reflection of their former selves1 a remnant most forlorn of what they were4 ,one of his most painstaking biographers and soundest critics1 ,sir ,walter ,armstrong1 has written1 ,speaking roughly1 ,sir ,joshua's early pictures darken1 the works of his middle period fade1 those of his late maturity crack4 ,despite these drawbacks1 the painter's position is unassailable1 for it appeals alike to the historian1 to the philosopher who looks to the outward semblance for reflection of the spirit behind the mask1 and to the artist who finds so much to delight him in the point of achievement to which ,reynolds raised portrait painting and can appreciate the larger aspect of work that is visible in some degree to everybody4 ,the man was a sturdy ,briton1 he worked hard all the days of his life1 he had a large measure of shrewd common sense1 great gifts1 high ideals1 and sufficient human weakness to make him what the ,spaniards call hombre como alquier otro1 a man like any other4 ,his art may stand upon a pedestal but he never did1 he was too busy and too unaffected to pose4 ,i'll be a painter if you'll give me a chance to be quite a good one1 he is reported to have said1 when a little boy1 to his father1 the ,plympton school-master1 and once a painter he worked on and on1 enjoying life but never abusing it1 until #aghi1 when he was sixty-six1 and apparently in the mellow autumn of his days4 ,then as he was painting in his studio one ,july morning1 the sight of one eye failed him suddenly4 ,quite quietly he laid his brushes down4 ,all things have an end1 he said2 ,i have come to mine4 ,some two and a half years were left to him but he would not paint any more2 he preferred to be judged by the tasks he had accomplished in the light of health4 ,he continued to address the students of the ,royal ,academy2 he consented to remain titular head of that body though ,sir ,william ,chambers and ,benjamin ,west1 who was regarded as a great painter in his day1 looked after the actual work of the high office4 ,he was not a mere cipher in the counsels of the ,academy on that account2 to the end he had his own way4 ,very masterful1 very human1 very kind1 he stands out the most prominent figure in an age that produced both ,gainsborough and ,romney4 ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------- ,illustration3 ,nelly ,o',brien ,nelly ,o',brien 7,wallace ,collection7 ,reynolds painted three portraits of this famous courtesan1 all of which have been engraved4 ,the one reproduced here1 in which she wears a straw hat that throws a skilfully expressed shadow over her face1 and in which she has a ,maltese terrier on her lap1 is said to be the best4 ,it has been engraved at least three times4 ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------- ,the latter half of the eighteenth century owes a heavy debt to ,sir ,joshua1 so too do we who turn to his many canvases for a glimpse of the men who bore rule and the women they delighted to honour--or dishonour4 ,he has preserved for us all that was notable--statesmen1 soldiers1 sailors1 churchmen1 men of letters1 actors1 fair women1 frail women1 delightful children--they are all there1 and if we cannot see them all quite in their habit as they lived1 there is enough left to give a very fair idea4 ,the modern market carefully nursed by a ring of astute professionals will give almost any price for portraits of fair women by ,sir ,joshua1 though it may be suggested that his greatest success was in the treatment of men or at least that he saw far more in men than in women4 ,but ,reynolds had not studied classic figures for nothing1 he could give his fair sitters some suggestion of direct association with those goddesses of old time whom he had admired in ,italy1 and to this treatment no exception was taken4 ,it is very rarely that ,reynolds makes his women human4 ,nellie ,o',brien1 whose portrait hangs in the ,wallace ,collection1 is one of the exceptions1 and an attempt is made to make the ,duchess of ,devonshire and ,child1 now at ,chatsworth1 equally feminine1 but one cannot escape the thought that the mother's gesture as expressed on the canvas is altogether exceptional4 ,she could not have played for long with such a strong healthy baby without ruffling the delightful costume or the carefully arranged hair1 and this1 one feels1 would have been unendurable4 ,turn1 on the other hand1 to the portraits of the men--how significantly their faces speak of their outstanding habits1 labours or desires4 ,few people could see so closely into his sitters as ,sir ,joshua did1 though in very many cases they were not with him for more than a couple of days4 ,yet he seemed able in that short time to enter into their life history to produce something that was a fine portrait and yet more than a portrait--a psychological study1 not over elaborated1 not insisted upon1 not in any way intruding upon the purely artistic side of the work1 but there1 nevertheless1 to be seen to-day by those who have eyes to see4 ,to quote his own words1 he looked upon his sitters with a dilated eye2 there was just enough imagination to give an attractive setting to the essentials2 there was no need for the classical or symbolical background to whose doubtful charms the painter surrendered now and again1 but we may consider that these affectations were a part of the art of his time1 and that1 while he left many conventions behind him1 he could not trample upon them all4 ,it is well to remember that ,sir ,joshua was not a heaven-sent genius1 and that he arrived at the perfection of his achievement by the addition of hard labour to a considerable natural gift4 ,he started out with few advantages save those that come to the young man who finds a patron early in life2 he had many natural errors of taste to correct4 ,students of his life and correspondence will find many evidences to prove that the first ,president of the ,royal ,academy mastered his self-control1 taste1 and bearing towards patrons as he mastered his art1 slowly and not without difficulty1 but that as soon as a lesson was mastered it was retained for all time4 ,the raw country lad from ,devonshire could not become all at once one of the prominent figures in the society of his time4 ,this is as it was bound to be--the people who make no mistakes1 who say and do the right thing under all circumstances1 who are1 so to speak1 ready made and with every modern equipment1 are for the most part the creation of their biographers4 ,they have not and never had a real existence as paragons of progress and propriety4 ,there was a time when ,joshua ,reynolds was not very competent1 and but incompletely educated2 he became highly accomplished and well read4 ,there was a time when he exhibited the tendencies of a snob2 he learned to lay them aside1 and once abandoned he had no further use for them4 ,unceasing endeavour stimulated and refined him1 he achieved greatness not for himself alone but also for ,british art4 ,before his day the most of the fashionable portrait painters were foreigners4 ,rubens and ,van ,dyck had many successors and followers though they had no peers1 but after ,reynolds had made his mark it was no longer considered necessary to employ foreign talent4 ,the commanding ability of the painter was associated with the easy authority of the man of the world4 ,leaders of ,english society found that ,sir ,joshua1 despite his deafness1 was a fascinating companion4 ,he shot and hunted with them1 he ate and drank with them1 he entertained them in fashion that smacked more of the country than of the town4 ,dr ,johnson would suggest that he sometimes took more than was absolutely necessary for his well-being1 but then the doctor thought that all drinking1 save tea-drinking1 was gross indulgence4 ,from his close acquaintance with men of mark and women of social distinction came the intimacy that the portraits reveal1 the quality that counts for so much in portraiture4 ,there were other attractions greatly admired then and lost now1 for ,sir ,joshua gave his pictures a fine glaze that is said to have added much to the beauty of the colouring1 but was1 alas1 ephemeral4 ,it was purely experimental1 and when we consider the scientific resources of the middle eighteenth century it is hardly surprising to find that the charm did not endure4 ,for all we know to the contrary this purely evanescent quality constituted one of the charms of ,reynolds while he lived1 but his fame rests upon more enduring foundations4 ,we look in vain to the spoken and written word or to the written word alone to sum up eighteenth century men of thought and action as clearly and definitely as ,sir ,joshua has done2 his is a sincerity devoid of prejudice4 ,we see men as they were even if the most of his women are seen as they would have wished to be4 ,here then is a part at least of the charm of ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds1 the man was very human and very discreet4 ,he was by no means free from jealousy notably where ,gainsborough and ,romney were concerned2 he knew well enough that they were great competitors and formidable4 ,he lived a bachelor1 and despite all the ,paul ,prys among his contemporaries the story of his amours 7if any7 remains untold4 ,here at least is a fine and ample discretion4 ,it is with ,angelica ,kauffmann that his name has been associated4 ,we know he was her friend and admirer1 and that she was one of the two lady members of the ,royal ,academy as first constituted1 but there is little more than this at the disposal of the conscientious biographer4 ,sir ,joshua was not the only man to succumb to her charms2 in years to come ,goethe himself was to acknowledge them4 ,it is pleasant to think that whatever the great painter's private affairs may have been1 they have remained private for all time4 ,what a wealth of moralising this condition has enabled us to escape6 ,we are left to concern ourselves solely with his progress as artist and as man1 and there is quite enough in this as may be gathered from study of the artist's leading biographers4 ,sir ,walter ,armstrong1 ,sir ,claude ,phillips among the moderns1 and ,northcote and ,leslie and ,taylor among those nearer to the artist1 are men who have left little for those who endeavour to glean in the field of biography4 ,they have done more than write the story of one man's life--they have given us a valuable glimpse of contemporary history4 ,it is a grateful task to write at considerable length of ,sir ,joshua1 because of his association with so many leaders of contemporary thought and action4 ,detail is out of the question in this brief note1 but the outlines of the strenuous and honourable life may be set out here4 ,,ii4 ,,his ,,life ,,and ,,times ,joshua ,reynolds was born at ,plympton in ,devonshire in the month of ,july #agbc4 ,his father1 the ,rev4 ,samuel ,reynolds1 master of the local grammar school1 was a scholar1 and gave his boy the best education at his command1 intending to make him a doctor when he grew up4 ,but the lad's talent developed early1 his hands were busy with the pencil at a very early age1 and at a time when to most lads reading is a labour rather than a pastime1 he was mastering the elements of perspective and studying a ,theory of ,painting by one ,richardson4 ,this precocious interest in art was not to be overlooked1 and the ,rev4 ,samuel ,reynolds giving up the idea of the medical profession for his son1 sent him in his seventeenth year to ,london as pupil to a portrait painter named ,thomas ,hudson1 a man of some temporary repute4 ,he stayed there for three years1 and then a series of troubles with his master culminated in a final quarrel1 and the boy1 for he was hardly more1 left ,london for his native county1 and set up in ,devonport as a portrait painter4 ,his gift was already sufficient to gain recognition1 and the patronage of local people was neither denied nor delayed4 ,among them was ,lord ,mount ,edgecumbe1 who was not content to have his portrait painted1 but1 being convinced that the young artist had talent1 did all that in him lay to help its development4 ,portraits were painted in large numbers at ,devonport1 many are known to-day1 but for the most part they are not classed with the master's great achievements4 ,a natural gift and three years' association with ,thomas ,hudson could not make the ,reynolds we know and admire4 ,it was for ,italy to do this and ,lord ,mount ,edgecumbe made ,italy possible by introducing his protg to ,commodore ,keppel1 a distinguished sailor1 who1 on receiving a ,mediterranean command in #agdi1 invited his clever friend to accompany him4 ,naturally the offer was not slighted2 by the summer of #agdi the young painter was in the ,eternal ,city copying masterpieces4 ,but he did not copy in any slavish fashion2 it was his firm belief1 and one he was to expound to students in days to come1 that copying is a delusive industry and keeps the gifts of composition and invention dormant1 so that for lack of proper exercise they lose their vitality4 ,his mind was at once synthetical and analytical2 he set himself to discover the foundation of the excellence of the masterpieces1 and many of his copies were in a sense mere notes for his own future guidance4 ,he wanted assistance to develop himself2 he had no wish to speak in the language of any of the mighty dead4 ,yet his power of making an effective copy must have been remarkable4 ,sir ,walter ,armstrong1 to whose life of ,reynolds reference has been made already1 thinks that one of the ,rembrandts in our ,national ,gallery is no more than the copy by ,sir ,joshua of an original4 ,for three years the painter laboured diligently1 not only among the ,michelangelos in ,rome1 but among the works of lesser men in ,padua1 ,turin1 ,milan1 and ,paris4 ,he had learned enough in ,england to call the old masters to his aid on the ,continent1 he could appreciate all their canvases could tell him and1 when he returned home in his thirtieth year1 he was fully equipped to take a high place among his fellow artists and to pave the way to a supremacy that only ,gainsborough and ,romney could challenge4 ,he had not come unscathed through more than three years of foreign travel1 a fall from his horse in the island of ,minorca left his face permanently scarred4 ,far more serious was the chill contracted in the ,vatican that brought about the deafness from which he suffered for the rest of his life4 ,he reached ,devonshire in the autumn of #ageb1 took a brief holiday there1 and then1 on the advice of his patron ,lord ,mount ,edgecumbe1 decided to try his fortune in ,london4 ,some of his biographers say he went to ,great ,newport ,street1 but it is more correct to say that his first studio was in ,st ,martin's ,street1 from which he moved to ,great ,newport ,street1 staying there till #agfj1 when he made his last change to #dg ,leicester ,square1 a house still standing and largely devoted to auction rooms to-day4 ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------- ,illustration3 ,age of ,innocence ,age of ,innocence 7,national ,gallery7 ,this delightful study of a little barefooted girl1 wearing a white dress and seated on the grass1 was bought for the ,nation at the sale of ,mr ,harman's pictures4 ,it has been engraved by ,s4 ,w4 ,reynolds1 ,chas4 ,turner1 and others1 but the sitter has not been traced4 ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------- ,one of his first ,london portraits was a full length study of his sailor friend ,keppel1 and that piece of work seems to have been the foundation of his ,london fortunes2 he never looked back4 ,soon the studio was crowded2 one sitter succeeded another2 the painter had no time to do more than work4 ,his household affairs were watched by his sister ,frances1 who does not appear to have been an ideal housekeeper when the work of the house grew and it became necessary to entertain and be prepared to receive friends at any reasonable hour4 ,the painter grew rich rapidly1 and when he moved1 in #agfj1 to the house in ,leicester ,square1 sister ,frances would drive about the town in a gilded coach with coachman and footman in staring liveries4 ,presumably the equipage served to advertise the painter's prosperity4 ,for many men the rapid success would not have been good1 they would have ceased to strive and would have been content to repeat themselves1 but ,joshua ,reynolds1 with his high ideals and genuine enthusiasm for work1 was only stimulated by prosperity2 it was powerless to spoil him4 ,while his work was increasing in power he was selecting friends from the ranks of the most distinguished scholars and thinkers in town1 and while his labours were making him a bigger artist1 the association with great intellects was making him a bigger man4 ,the friendship of ,edmund ,burke and ,dr ,samuel ,johnson alone would have been enough to have lent distinction to the painter's life4 ,he was a great admirer of the lexicographer1 and has left an appreciation of his character1 while the old man's last words to him were an exhortation to read the ,bible regularly and not to paint on ,sundays4 ,to many people ,reynolds is known best as the first ,president of the ,royal ,academy1 and it is necessary in dealing1 however briefly1 with the story of his life to point out how the ,academy came into being4 ,down to the middle of the eighteenth century exhibitions of modern work would appear to have been unknown4 ,london's interest in fine arts was strictly limited4 ,people with plenty of money hired an artist to paint their portrait much as we should hire a painter and decorator to put a house in good order4 ,artists had comparatively little standing and no representative institution2 art was patronised by a small section of the wealthy classes1 and the masses knew little and cared less about the existence of even leading men4 ,the ,society of ,arts was founded about #aged1 and a ,society of ,artists was founded soon afterwards4 ,hogarth had given some pictures to the gallery of the ,foundling ,hospital1 established by his great friend ,captain ,coram4 ,reynolds' former master1 ,thomas ,hudson1 ,reynolds himself1 and several others sent pictures2 the gallery was open to the public and people visited it with interest and pleasure4 ,the possibilities of regular exhibitions of modern work became suddenly apparent then1 and members began to form associations for the development of common interests4 ,the ,society of ,artists received in #agfe a certificate of ,incorporation from ,king ,george ,,iii41 and became the ,incorporated ,society of ,artists of ,great ,britain with a membership of more than two hundred4 ,now in this country it is only necessary to establish one society in order that several other societies may establish themselves in opposition1 emulation1 imitation or something of the kind1 and it was quite in the order of things for the ,free ,society of ,artists to enter into competition with the ,incorporated ,society4 ,there were many intrigues1 and some of the men who had the ear of the ,king1 chief among them1 it is said1 ,william ,chambers the ,architect and ,benjamin ,west1 brought about the establishment of the ,royal ,academy4 ,king ,george signed the ,constitution of the new body1 which started with thirty-six members including two ladies1 ,angelica ,kauffmann and ,mary ,moser4 ,william ,chambers accepted the office of ,treasurer1 while ,goldsmith and ,dr ,johnson represented ,ancient ,history and ,ancient ,literature respectively4 ,to the astonishment of many people the ,presidency was offered to ,joshua ,reynolds4 ,his brother artists wanted him1 but ,king ,george ,,iii41 who was not remarkable for his artistic perceptions1 preferred the work of ,benjamin ,west1 and is said to have been unable at first to subscribe to the ,academy's choice4 ,the part ,reynolds played in the business that led to the collapse of the ,incorporated ,society and the establishment of the ,r4,a4 remain unknown to this hour4 ,to all outward seeming he stood quite aloof from the intrigues1 for a part of the time of their occurrence he was travelling on the ,continent2 yet those who have studied his life history closely and noted the abundant and subtle diplomacy that marked his public as well as his private life1 suspect that his influence was behind many of the developments of those stirring years4 ,be this as it may the fact remains that he did not at once accept the offer of the ,presidency2 he asked time to consider and to consult his friends1 and ,benjamin ,west was sent to persuade him before he would give a favourable answer4 ,what a pity that there was no painter at hand to defeat ,benjamin ,west persuading ,joshua ,reynolds to become first ,president of the ,royal ,academy6 ,certainly1 if the latter was pulling the wires he did the work in fashion quite inimitable4 ,having held out sufficiently he gave in1 and a year later received from ,king ,george the honour of ,knighthood4 ,it is characteristic of ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds that1 having become ,president1 he should be at great pains to justify his new position4 ,it was not an empty honour1 the annual exhibition would need and demand proof of his accomplishment and industry1 while1 as the ,academy was to be a teaching ,institution1 he saw himself face to face with the necessity of finding time to prepare addresses for the benefit of the students4 ,perhaps the best praise to be given to these discourses on art is the reminder that they are still in steady demand1 indeed1 they are the most accessible guide to their author's methods4 ,his grasp of principles1 his breadth of view and critical insight are all the more attractive because of the ease and fluency with which they are expressed4 ,to the man who has never held a paint brush as well as to the novice in art and the old experienced hand1 there is a definite appeal4 ,he shows one and all that his triumph as a portrait painter is not a mere affair of happy chance1 but the logical outcome of certain principles followed without concession4 ,many moderns will not see eye to eye with him1 they may ever hold that he was quite mistaken in many of his views1 but the change of fashion and the modification of thought are of less importance than the fact that ,sir ,joshua accepted1 followed1 and taught certain theories and lived in the light of them4 ,nearly one hundred and fifty years have passed since the ,academy was established1 but it has not produced another teacher like ,reynolds4 ,he had not exhausted his honours when he came to be ,president2 in years to come he was to become painter in ordinary to the ,king and to be entrusted with a considerable commission by that remarkable woman the ,empress ,catherine of ,russia4 ,he was a welcome guest at many of the most beautiful homes in ,england and he travelled abroad extensively1 but nothing kept him from his ,presidential duties until the last year of his life brought sickness in their train4 ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------- ,illustration3 ,duchess of ,devonshire and ,child ,duchess of ,devonshire and ,child 7,chatsworth7 ,this picture1 sometimes known as ,the ,jumping ,baby1 is in the possession of the ,duke of ,devonshire at ,chatsworth4 ,when first seen some people found fault with it1 ,horace ,walpole among the number1 but it has gained popularity with age4 ,the composition is very skilled1 but the ,duchess is perhaps rather too much en grande tenue to appear as nurse4 ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------- ,when we consider the ill fortune of the ,incorporated ,society and the ,society of ,artists and remember how actively men intrigued then1 as now1 it is not difficult to see that the ,royal ,academy owes a heavy debt to ,sir ,joshua1 who may be said to have nursed it with the greatest care during its infancy and was such a generous contributor to the walls of its annual exhibition that he is said to have sent nearly two hundred and fifty pictures during his term of office4 ,the first ,exhibitions were held in ,pall ,mall1 but during ,sir ,joshua's lifetime there was a move to ,somerset ,house4 ,to #ahch the annual display was transferred to the ,national ,gallery1 and in #ahfi ,burlington ,house became the centre of activities that increase in volume if not in interest year by year4 ,it is impossible to compile a list of the distinguished men and interesting women who sat to ,sir ,joshua1 but a very brief resume may be made of some of the most familiar4 ,the three ,ladies ,waldegrave1 ,georgiana1 ,duchess of ,devonshire1 ,lady ,cockburn and her children1 ,mrs ,master as ,hebe1 ,miss ,kitty ,fisher1 ,miss ,nelly ,o',brien1 ,mrs ,lloyd1 the ,honourable ,lavinia ,bingham1 ,angelica ,kauffmann1 ,mrs ,hoare and her baby1 ,countess ,waldegrave and daughter1 ,mrs ,siddons as the ,tragic ,muse1 ,the ,graces decorating a ,terminal ,figure of ,hymen1 the ,duchess of ,devonshire and baby--here we have a few of the female portraits by which the painter would have achieved success if he had painted no others4 ,he painted four or five portraits of ,king ,george ,,iii41 two of his wife1 and two of ,george ,,iv4 as ,prince of ,wales2 the number of peers is legion4 ,among statesmen ,edmund ,burke sat to him five times and ,charles ,james ,fox four4 ,brinsley ,sheridan sat twice and ,horace ,walpole three times4 ,other men sitters of note were ,bartolozzi the engraver1 ,dr ,burney1 ,david ,garrick1 ,dr ,johnson1 ,boswell1 ,oliver ,goldsmith1 ,gibbon the historian1 ,tobias ,smollett and ,laurence ,sterne4 ,of himself ,reynolds painted between forty and fifty portraits4 ,successful as he was in expressing the moods of men and the fascination of women1 it is impossible in writing of the charm of ,reynolds to forget the part the children play in his work4 ,it would be hard indeed to find a painter who has expressed the joy and happiness of childhood with equal effect4 ,some of the children so depicted are seen with their mothers1 and one feels that the portrait was painted more for the mother than for the child2 but there are many canvases from which the children alone smile at us1 captured for our time in all their youthful radiance though some have lain for a century dead4 ,the children of ,lady ,smythe stand happily apart from their rather self-conscious mother1 and among the single-figure portraits of children are ,lady ,catherine ,pelham ,clinton1 ,lady ,caroline ,howard1 ,miss ,emma ,hart 7afterwards ,lady ,hamilton71 ,charles1 ,viscount ,althorp1 ,miss ,bowles the ,strawberry ,girl1 ,the ,age of ,innocence1 ,the ,infant ,samuel1 and many others that the mind and the memory love to dwell upon4 ,how pleasant it is to remember that ,nature so careless of the individual is so careful of the type that it blossoms anew with every generation6 ,having written1 however briefly1 of the children in ,reynolds' picture1 it seems unnecessary to say more of his charm2 they will stand for it until the end comes1 the hour when the pigments can endure no longer and the labour of the master is ended4 ,there is little to add to the story of ,sir ,joshua after he became ,president of the ,royal ,academy4 ,down to #aghi1 when sickness came suddenly upon him1 his was a prosperous career1 passed in the most stimulating company of his age1 associated with foreign travel and delightful ,english holidays4 ,only once in all these later years does his critical insight appear to have failed him1 and this was when he went to ,holland and remained unmoved by the work of ,franz ,hals4 ,what1 one wonders1 did he see or fail to see when he stood before the portrait of the ,laughing ,cavalier and the musician 7,der ,vaar71 the painter's wife and the market girl8 ,londoners mourned when ,reynolds' life came to an end1 and they buried him with much pomp and ceremony by the side of ,sir ,christopher ,wren4 ,but he may well be content with the measure of his own immortality4 ,no ,british portrait painter has seriously challenged his supremacy1 and few may hope to rival his output4 ,the ,graves and ,cronin catalogue mention three thousand pictures and probably leave well over a thousand unnamed4 ,it is possible for the amateur to name a hundred examples of his portraiture1 any of which would have justified a claim to posthumous honours4 ,,printed ,,by ,,turnbull ,,and ,,spears1 ,,edinburgh