Sir Joshua Reynolds — Self-portrait and Portrait of Omai

Sir Joshua Reynolds was a founding President of the Royal Academy in 1768 and one of the foremost portraiture artists of England in the 18th-century.

He was born in Plympton St Maurice, just outside Plymouth, on 16 July 1723. Happy birthday!! 🙌

Reynolds’s career spanned six decades and his acclaim and fame reached a degree rarely seen by any artist, especially in their lifetime. If you were a wealthy aristocrat looking for a portrait, Reynolds was your man.

He travelled widely and studied the Old Masters as the best way to emulate greatness.

In the RA Schools, he set out his influential art theories between 1769 and 1790 which were seen by many as changing the course of British art. In his “Discourses on Art”, Reynolds argued that painters should adopt classical and Renaissance works as their model, imbuing their works with symbolic references to classical myths. He also emphasised the importance of drawing on the works of Old Masters such as Rembrandt, Rubens and Van Dyck. This “Grand Manner” was the unification of painting and scholarship.

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Self-portrait

This self-portrait was done before Reynolds travelled to Rome to study and learn.

It shows a young man; eager and excited. Looking out into the distance (and future?), with brush and mahl stick in one hand, and other hand shielding his eyes.

Love his tousled hair too.

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Portrait of Omai

I was excited to see this painting.

It was a recent acquisition by the National Portrait Gallery and the Getty Museum.

Apparently, the price was £50m! This is a stunning painting, for sure — but that price probably reflects our cultural zeitgeist of “cancel culture” and framing British history as an unspeakable litany of horrors and evils. Galleries today are marked by some ahistorical puritanism in which history is understood through our present-day’s mortal buzzwords.

At any rate, it is a beautiful portrait. This Tahitian was called Omai and he joined Captain Cook on a return voyage in the 18th century. His face is quite beautiful. Clothes are gorgeous. The gestures are welcoming, and he peers at someone out-of-frame.

Omai met George III and Samuel Johnson, dined with the Royal Society. It’s probable Reynolds knew Mai personally.