Transcriber's note:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=).
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS' DISCOURSES:
Edited, with an Introduction, by
HELEN ZIMMERN.
Walter Scott
London: 24 Warwick Lane
Paternoster Row
1887
CONTENTS.
DISCOURSE I. PAGE
The advantages proceeding from the institution of a Royal
Academy.--Hints offered to the consideration of the Professors
and visitors.--That an implicit obedience to the rules of Art
be exacted from the young students.--That a premature
disposition to a masterly dexterity be repressed.--That
diligence be constantly recommended, and (that it may be
effectual) directed to its proper object 1
DISCOURSE II.
The course and order of study.--The different stages of Art.--Much
copying discountenanced.--The Artist at all times and in all
places should be employed in laying up materials for the
exercise of his Art 10
DISCOURSE III.
The great leading principles of the grand style.--Of beauty.--The
genuine habits of nature to be distinguished from those of
fashion 25
DISCOURSE IV.
General ideas the presiding principle which regulates every part
of Art; Invention, Expression, Colouring, and Drapery.--Two
distinct styles in history-painting; the grand and the
ornamental.--The schools in which each is to be found.--The
composite style.--The style formed on local customs and
habits, or a partial view of nature 39
DISCOURSE V.
Circumspection required in endeavouring to unite contrary
excellencies.--The expression of a mixed passion not to be
attempted.--Examples of those who excelled in the great
style.--Raffaelle, Michel Angelo, those two extraordinary
men compared with each other.--The characteristical
style.--Salvator Rosa mentioned as an example of that style;
and opposed to Carlo Maratti.--Sketch of the characters of
Poussin and Rubens.--These two Painters entirely dissimilar,
but consistent with themselves.--This consistency required in
all parts of the Art 58
DISCOURSE VI.
Imitation.--Genius begins where rules end.--Invention; acquired by
being conversant with the inventions of others.--The true
method of imitating.--Borrowing, how far allowable.--Something
to be gathered from every school 74
DISCOURSE VII.
The reality of a standard of taste as well as of corporal
beauty.--Beside this immutable truth, there are secondary
truths, which are variable; both requiring the attention of
the Artist, in proportion to their stability or their
influence 98
DISCOURSE VIII.
The principles of Art, whether Poetry or Painting, have their
foundation in the mind; such as novelty, variety, and
contrast; these in their excess become defects.--Simplicity,
its excess disagreeable.--Rules not to be always observed in
their literal sense; sufficient to preserve the spirit of the
law.--Observations on the Prize Pictures 129
DISCOURSE IX.
On the removal of the Royal Academy to Somerset Place.--The
advantages to Society from cultivating intellectual pleasure 154
DISCOURSE X.
Sculpture: Has but one style.--Its objects, form, and
character.--Ineffectual attempts of the modern Sculptors to
improve the art.--Ill effects of modern dress in Sculpture 158
DISCOURSE XI.
Genius: Consists principally in the comprehension of _A whole_;
in taking general ideas only 174
DISCOURSE XII.
Particular methods of study of little consequence--Little of
the art can be taught.--Love of method often a love of
idleness.--_Pittori improvvisatori_ apt to be careless and
incorrect; seldom original and striking:--This proceeds
from their not studying the works of other masters 190
DISCOURSE XIII.
Art not merely imitation, but under the direction of the
Imagination.--In what manner Poetry, Painting, Acting,
Gardening, and Architecture depart from Nature 211
DISCOURSE XIV.
Character of _Gainsborough_: his excellencies and defects 230
DISCOURSE XV.
The _President_ takes leave of the Academy.--A Review of the
Discourses.--The study of the Works of _Michel Angelo_
recommended 248
THE IDLER, No. 76. False Criticisms on Painting 269
---- No. 79. The Grand Style of Painting 275
---- No. 82. The true idea of Beauty 279
INTRODUCTION.
Sir Joshua Reynolds--to whom is the name unfamiliar? to whom, hearing
it, does not appear in mental vision the equally familiar autograph
portrait of the deaf artist? This picture, painted originally for Mr.
Thrale, shows us the painter "in his habit as he lived," spectacles on
nose, ear-trumpet in hand--in short, exactly as he was known to his
intimates in his latter days in domestic life. Another autograph
picture of the artist in younger life hangs to-day in the National
Gallery. Close by is seen the portrait by the same hand of his equally
illustrious friend, bluff, common-sense Dr. Johnson, whom he
represents as reading and holding his book close to his eyes after the
manner of the short-sighted. It would seem that this mode of
representation roused Dr. Johnson's ire. "It is not friendly," he
remarked, "to hand down to posterity the imperfections of any person."
This comment of the doctor's is equally characteristic of the man and
his times. At so low an ebb was art and art criticism in those days,
that people less learned than Johnson failed to grasp the truth of
Reynolds' dictum, now become almost a commonplace, that a portrait but
receives enhanced value as a human and historical document if it makes
us acquainted with any natural peculiarity that characterises the
person delineated. Johnson rebelled against the notion he deduced from
this circumstance that Sir Joshua would make him known to posterity by
his defects only; he vowed to Mrs. Thrale he would not be so known.
"Let Sir Joshua do his worst, . . . he may paint himself as deaf as he
chooses, but I will not be blinking Sam."
In this anecdote, in this juxtaposition of two great names, each
thoroughly representative of their epoch, can be traced both the cause
of Sir Joshua's success, and of the difficulties against which he had
to strive. Reynolds may with truth be named the father of modern
English art, for before him English art can scarcely be said to have
existed, since what was produced on British soil was chiefly the work
of foreigners. The records even of this older art are sufficiently
barren. It would appear that in the reign of Henry III. some foreign
artists were invited over to decorate Winchester Castle, but of them
and their works little trace remains. At the time when Italy was
producing her masterpieces no native artist of whom we have record
bedaubed canvas in Great Britain; and when the pomp-loving Henry VIII.
wished to vie with his great contemporaries, Charles V., Leo X., and
Francis I., he had to turn to the Continent for the men to execute his
desires. That he himself had no true taste or love for the arts is
well known; it was purely the spirit of emulation that prompted him.
How crude were his own art notions may be gathered from the written
instructions he left for a monument to his memory. They serve equally
to illustrate the state of public taste in England at a period when
Italy was inspired by the genius of Michael Angelo, of Raphael, and of
Titian. The memorandum directs that "the king shall appear on
horseback, of the stature of a goodly man; while over him shall appear
the image of God the Father, holding the king's soul in his left hand,
and his right extended in the act of benediction." This work was to
have been executed in bronze, and was considerably advanced when
Elizabeth put a stop to its progress. It was afterwards sold by the
Puritan parliament for six hundred pounds. Still, for all his own
artistic incapacity, it is more than probable that had not Henry, for
private domestic reasons, adopted the Reformed faith, England under
his reign might have witnessed a prosperous art period, which, it is
true, would not have been native art, but might have given impetus
towards its birth. Thackeray was fond of saying that it was no idle
speculation to suppose what would have happened had Napoleon won the
battle of Waterloo. To those who love such fruitless mental sports it
may prove no idle speculation to ponder what would have happened had
Henry's amorous desires not led him to liberate himself and his nation
from the bosom of the Catholic Church. Enough that the facts are
there, and that with the first ardour of Protestant zeal there also
made itself felt a chilling influence, casting a blight over
literature and art, and more especially over art, till then so almost
exclusively the handmaiden of religion, that a work of art came to be
regarded as a symbol and remembrance of popery, and "painting and
sculpture were conscientiously discouraged as tending to encourage
idolatry and superstition and to minister to passion and luxury."
Queen Mary, Elizabeth, and James I., each in their way gave some
encouragement to foreign artists, such as Moro, Zucchero, and Mytens,
but their patronage was purely personal, and did not operate upon the
taste of the nation. More extended influence was exercised by Charles
I. This monarch had a real love and understanding for art, and under
him Rubens and Vandyke employed their pencils. He also bought many
pictures, and encouraged his nobles to do the like. At least, among
the upper classes the narrow Puritan art views were greatly
counteracted. But Charles had to lay his head upon the block, and
Puritanism had fuller and more unchecked sway than ever before,
creating influences which to this very day are not wholly extinct,
though happily in their death throes. Their latest survival is the
"British Matron" who writes to the _Times_ denouncing modern pictures
that displease her individual taste, and the artists, happily rare and
few, who preach that the study of the nude and anatomy is no essential
part of a painter's education.
After the death of Charles a general wreck of works of art ensued.
Whatever survived the bigotry of the Puritans was sacrificed to supply
their pecuniary necessities. A curious mixture of superstition and
covetousness was displayed. The journals of the House of Commons of 1645
afford some interesting reading like the following:--"Ordered: that all
pictures and sketches as are without superstition shall be forthwith
sold for the benefit of Ireland and the north. Ordered: that all such
pictures as have the representation of the Virgin Mary upon them shall
be forthwith burnt. Ordered: that all such pictures as have the
representation of the Second Person of the Trinity upon them shall be
forthwith burnt." It seems, however, that these orders were not quite
strictly executed. The Puritan conscience having been relieved by this
edict, many prohibited pictures were sold at a high price to swell the
coffers of the zealots. After this it is needless to remark that art did
not flourish under the Commonwealth. With the Restoration we find Lely
practising his method of portrait-painting, succeeded by Sir Godfrey
Kneller, neither, however, being Englishmen. The era of George I.
produced as native painters, Richardson and Sir James Thornhill; under
George II. Hudson flourished; it was reserved to the long reign of
George III. to see the birth of what can be truly termed art, of what
alone can measure itself with the nations of the Continent. Hogarth was
the first upon the list, but Hogarth, inimitable as he is, was rather a
satirist than an artist in the full acceptation of the term. Of beauty
of draughtmanship, of colour, we find next to nothing in his canvasses.
Together with him flourished Hudson, and a little later Wilson and
Gainsborough, who, like himself, and, indeed, like all English artists
up to that time, had imbibed their teaching through the medium of
Flanders, producing exact and careful work--indeed, in Gainsborough's
case, work of real beauty--but lacking on the side of poetical feeling
and elevation. Such a method must be regarded as the infancy of art, its
purely observant but unthinking side. It was reserved to Reynolds to
open out to English understanding the vista of Italian art, with its
glories, its perfections, and it is owing to his Discourses, even more
than to his works, that this mighty revolution came about; a revolution
so mighty, so important, that for its sake alone, had he never limned a
canvas, the name of Reynolds should stand forth proudly in the annals of
England. It was he who, coming to Italy, already in mature manhood, as a
finished artist in the eyes of his countrymen, had the perception and
the courage to admit before the works of Raphael and Michael Angelo
that it was needful for him "to become as a little child" and recommence
his studies upon principles of which hitherto he was ignorant.
Joshua Reynolds was born at Plympton, in Devonshire, July 16th, 1723,
the tenth child of the Rev. Samuel Reynolds, rector of Plympton and
principal of the local grammar school. His father was the boy's only
instructor. He had destined him, it would seem, for the medical
profession, and Reynolds is known to have said in latter life that if
this design had been carried out, "he should have felt the same
determination to become the most eminent physician as he then felt to be
the first painter of his age and country." It was, indeed, his decided
opinion (an opinion modern psychology would hardly endorse) that "the
superiority attainable in any pursuit whatever does not originate in an
innate propensity of the mind for that pursuit in particular, but
depends on the general strength of the intellect, and on the intense and
constant application of that strength to a specific purpose." He held
that ambition was the cause of eminence, but that accident pointed out
the means. It is impossible to decide whether or no Reynolds illustrates
his own theory, but from what he said in private, and also in his
Discourses, many erroneous conclusions are drawn as to this point. As
his biographer, Northcote, justly observes, Reynolds "never meant to
deny the existence of genius, supposing the term to denote a greater
degree of natural capacity in some minds than others; but he always
contended strenuously against the vulgar and absurd interpretation of
the word, which supposes that the same person may be a man of genius in
one respect, but utterly unfit for, and almost an idiot in everything
else; and that this singular and unaccountable faculty is a gift born
with us, which does not need the assistance of pains or culture, time or
accident, to improve and perfect it."
Whatever Reynolds' private views on the subject of native taste
asserting itself in the young, he himself undoubtedly showed a liking
for art at an early age, and his taste was fostered by his father,
himself an amateur possessing a small collection of anatomical and other
prints. If Joshua's love of drawing did not interfere with his other
studies, his father did not check it. Thus there is extant to this day a
perspective drawing of a bookcase under which Mr. Reynolds has written,
"Done by Joshua out of pure idleness." It is on the back of a Latin
exercise. He copied such prints as he could find in his father's
library, Jacob Cats's _Book of Emblems_ furnishing him with the richest
store. This his grandmother, who was a native of Holland, had
contributed to the family bookshelves. When he was only eight years old
he read with eagerness _The Jesuit's Perspective_, and so thoroughly did
he master its rules that he never afterwards had to study any other
works on the subject. An application of these rules to practice is
preserved in a drawing of the grammar school at Plympton. It was so well
done that the father exclaimed, "Now this exemplifies what the author of
the 'Perspective' asserts, that by observing the rules laid down in this
book a man may do wonders, for this is wonderful."
Visitors to the Reynolds' Exhibition, which was held in the Grosvenor
Gallery in 1884, may remember this little drawing, which was among the
exhibits.
Portraits of his family and friends next occupied Reynolds' youthful
pencil, while his love of art was influenced by reading Richardson's
_Treatise of Painting_. This book first awoke in him his enthusiastic
adoration of Raffaelle (of whose works he had till then seen nothing),
a love he cherished until the end of his days. At seventeen his liking
for art showing no diminution, the father decided he should follow a
painter's career, and took him to London, where he placed him under
Hudson, the most eminent artist England could then boast. By a curious
accident he was entered at Hudson's on St. Luke's day, the patron
saint of art and artists. Hudson set him at work at copying, a system
Sir Joshua afterwards strenuously condemned. His words on this matter,
written in the 2nd Discourse, should be "read, marked, learned, and
inwardly digested" by all art professors and students--they are golden
words of wisdom.
Notwithstanding the master's inadequate teaching, the pupil made such
progress that he aroused Hudson's jealousy, who, after two years'
apprenticeship, found a pretext for dismissing him. Reynolds, with
what he had learnt, continued to paint down in Devonshire, taking the
portraits of the local magnates. How conventional his style was at
first is proved by the following anecdote. It was a favourite attitude
with the portrait-painters of the time to represent their model with
one hand in waistcoat and the hat under the arm, convenient because it
dispensed the artist from the difficult task of painting the hand. Now
it happened that one gentleman, whose portrait Reynolds painted,
desired to have his hat on his head. The picture, which was quickly
finished and posed in a commonplace attitude, was done without much
study. When sent home, it was discovered, on inspection, that although
this gentleman in his portrait had one hat upon his head, there was
another under his arm.
For three years Reynolds painted in Devonshire, and certainly improved
greatly under his own instructions and those of William Gandy of
Exeter, so that some of the works of this period are undoubtedly fine.
During these first years of seclusion he taught himself to think as
well as to paint; and that the labour of the mind is the most
essential requisite in forming a great painter is a doctrine he
constantly inculcates in his Discourses, distinguishing it from that
of the hand. He aptly applied the dictum of Grotius--"Nothing can come
of nothing"--to demonstrate the necessity of teaching.
The more Reynolds thought, however, the less was he satisfied with his
own performances, and that he did not see himself progress with
greater speed no doubt fretted him the more, inasmuch as he had early
declared it his fixed opinion that if he did not prove himself the
best painter of his time, when arrived at the age of thirty, he never
should. For the completion of his studies he unceasingly felt that he
must visit Italy, and behold with his own eyes those masterpieces of
which he had heard so much. Chance offered him a passage to the
Continent in the flagship of Viscount Keppel, and thus, at the age of
twenty-six, May 11th, 1749, Reynolds first set sail for the
Continent, and for the land of his desires and aspirations.
On Sir Joshua's death papers were found on which were written a number
of detached thoughts, jotted down as hints for a Discourse, never
written, in which the artist intended to give a history of his mind, so
far as it concerned his art, his progress, studies, and practice. One of
these fragments narrates his feelings on first seeing the treasures of
Italian art, and is sufficiently remarkable. "It has frequently
happened," he writes, "as I was informed by the keeper of the Vatican,
that many of those whom he had conducted through the various apartments
of that edifice, when about to be dismissed, have asked for the works of
Raffaelle, and would not believe that they had already passed through
the rooms where they are preserved; so little impression had these
performances made on them. One of the first painters in France told me
that this circumstance happened to himself; though he now looks on
Raffaelle with that veneration which he deserves from all painters and
lovers of art. I remember very well my own disappointment when I first
visited the Vatican; but on confessing my feelings to a brother student,
of whose ingenuousness I had a high opinion, he acknowledged that the
works of Raffaelle had the same effect on him; or rather, that they did
not produce the effect which he expected. This was a great relief to my
mind; and, on inquiring farther of other students, I found that those
persons only who from natural imbecility appeared to be incapable of
ever relishing these divine performances, made pretensions to
instantaneous raptures on first beholding them. In justice to myself,
however, I must add, that though disappointed and mortified at not
finding myself enraptured with the works of this great master, I did not
for a moment conceive or suppose that the name of Raffaelle and those
admirable paintings in particular owed their reputation to the ignorance
and prejudice of mankind; on the contrary, my not relishing them, as I
was conscious I ought to have done, was one of the most humiliating
things that ever happened to me. I found myself in the midst of works
_executed upon principles_ _with which I was unacquainted_. I felt my
ignorance, and stood abashed.
"All the indigested notions of painting which I had brought with me
from England, where the art was at the lowest ebb--it could not indeed
be lower--were to be totally done away with and eradicated from my
mind. It was necessary, as it is expressed on a very solemn occasion,
that I should become _as a little child_. Notwithstanding my
disappointment, I proceeded to copy some of those excellent works. I
viewed them again and again; I even affected to feel their merits and
to admire them more than I really did. In a short time a new taste and
new perceptions began to dawn upon me, and I was convinced that I had
originally formed a _false opinion of the perfection of art_, and that
this great painter was well entitled to the high rank which he holds
in the estimation of the world.
"The truth is, that if these works had been really what I expected,
they would have contained beauties superficial and alluring, but by no
means such as would have entitled them to the great reputation which
they have long and so justly obtained."
It must, of course, be borne in mind, reading these words, that Sir
Joshua Reynolds had not the advantages put into the way to-day, not
only of art students, but of every person more or less interested in
art, in the way of copies, photographs, autotypes, from the works and
drawings of the great masters. He had to learn to understand, and he
at once put himself into the attitude of the learner, humbly assured
that the fault in appreciation must be in himself, not in those
masterpieces. His good sense told him that "the duration and stability
of their fame is sufficient to evince that it has not been suspended
upon the slender thread of fashion and caprice, but bound to the human
heart by every tie of sympathetic approbation."
"Having since that period," continues Sir Joshua, "frequently revolved
the subject in my mind, I am now clearly of opinion that a relish for
the higher excellences of the art is an acquired taste, which no man
ever possessed without long cultivation and great labour and
attention. On such occasions as that which I have mentioned, we are
often ashamed of our apparent dulness, as if it were expected that our
minds, like tinder, should instantly catch fire from the divine spark
of Raffaelle's genius. I flatter myself that _now_ it would be so, and
that I have a just perception of his great powers; but let it be
remembered that the excellence of his style is not on the surface, but
lies deep, and at the first view is seen but mistily. It is the florid
style which strikes at once, and captivates the eye, for a time,
without ever satisfying the judgment. Nor does painting in this
respect differ from other arts. A just poetical taste, and the
acquisition of a nice discriminative musical ear, are equally the work
of time. Even the eye, however perfect in itself, is often unable to
distinguish between the brilliancy of two diamonds, though the
experienced jeweller will be amazed at its blindness; not considering
that there was a time when he himself could not have been able to
pronounce which of the two was the most perfect, and that his own
power of discrimination was acquired by slow and imperceptible degrees."
From the first Reynolds avoided making copies, and had refused
lucrative orders. He sketched portions of pictures, such as he thought
would help his own comprehension, but he would do no slavish
imitation. "The man of true genius," writes Sir Joshua, "instead of
spending all his hours, as many artists do while they are at Rome, in
measuring statues and copying pictures, soon begins to think for
himself, and endeavour to do something like what he sees. I consider
general copying," he adds, "as a delusive kind of industry: the
student satisfies himself with the appearance of doing something; he
falls into the dangerous habit of imitating without selecting, and
labouring without a determinate object; as it requires no effort of
mind, he sleeps over his work, and those powers of invention and
disposition which ought particularly to be called out and put into
action lie torpid, and lose their energy for want of exercise. How
incapable of producing anything of their own those are who have spent
most of their time in making finished copies, is an observation well
known to all those who are conversant with our art."
His own precise method of study is not known, but it may be assumed
that he was chiefly occupied in reasoning on what he observed.
Elsewhere he writes--"A painter should form his rules from pictures
rather than from books or precepts; rules were first made from
pictures, not pictures from rules. Every picture an artist sees,
whether the most excellent or the most ordinary, he should consider
whence that fine effect or that ill effect proceeds, and then there is
no picture ever so indifferent but he may look at it to his profit."
"The artist," he observes, "who has his mind filled with ideas, and
his hand made expert by practice, works with ease and readiness;
whilst he who would have you believe that he is waiting for the
inspirations of genius, is in reality at a loss how to begin, and is
at last delivered of his monsters with difficulty and pain. The
well-grounded painter, on the contrary, has only maturely to consider
his subject, and all the mechanical parts of his art will follow,
without his exertion."
The mode of study which Sir Joshua adopted himself he continually
recommends to the students: "Instead of copying the touches of those
great masters, copy only their conceptions; instead of treading in their
footsteps, endeavour only to keep the same road; labour to invent on
their general principles and way of thinking; possess yourself with
their spirit; consider with yourself how a Michael Angelo or a Raffaelle
would have treated this subject, and work yourself into a belief that
your picture is to be seen and criticised by them when completed; even
an attempt of this kind will raise your powers.
"We all must have experienced how lazily, and consequently how
ineffectually, instruction is received when forced upon the mind by
others. Few have been taught to any purpose who have not been their
own teachers. We prefer those instructions which we have given
ourselves from our affection to the instructor; and they are more
effectual from being received into the mind at the very time when it
is most open to receive them."
Having stayed in Rome as long as his resources allowed, Sir Joshua
visited Florence, Venice, and some of the smaller Italian towns,
everywhere adopting the same careful, observant method of study.
After an absence of nearly three years he returned to England, feeling
himself indeed a mentally richer, wiser man than he set out.
It was after his return from Italy that Reynolds took up his permanent
abode in London, then, as now, the only true centre for art or
literature. At first he met much opposition; Hudson especially was
fiercely critical over Reynolds' new style, saying to him, "You don't
paint so well now as you did before you went to Italy." Another
eminent portrait-painter of the time, now long since consigned to
oblivion, shook his head sadly on seeing one of Sir Joshua's finest
portrait works, saying, "Oh, Reynolds, this will never answer: why,
you don't paint in the least in the manner of Kneller." And when the
artist tried to expose his reasons, his rival, not able to answer him,
left the room in a fury, shouting, "Damme! Shakespeare in poetry, and
Kneller in painting; damme!"
Nevertheless, Reynolds soon became a favourite with the public, and
his painting-room a fashionable resort. To this end his courtly manner
and agreeable conversation may greatly have aided. By the year 1760 he
had become the most sought for portraitist of his day, and was making
as much as £6000 a-year, in those days a very large sum for an artist
to earn, especially as the price he charged for his portraits was very
low as compared with modern artistic demands.
It was in 1759 that Reynolds first put down some of his artistic ideas
in writing. He contributed three papers to the _Idler_, then edited by
Dr. Johnson, with whom he had, on coming to London, formed that
friendship which lasted all their lives. They are the Numbers 76, 79,
and 82, and are reprinted in this volume.
"These papers," observes Northcote, "may be considered as a kind of
syllabus of all his future discourses; and they certainly occasioned
him some thinking in their composition. I have heard Sir Joshua say
that Johnson required them from him on a sudden emergency, and on that
account he sat up the whole night to complete them in time; and by it
he was so much disordered that it produced a vertigo in his head."
The following year, 1760, the one in which Reynolds removed to his
larger residence in Leicester Square, is memorable in the annals of
English art. It witnessed the first public exhibition of modern
paintings and sculptures, and proved so satisfactory that it was
repeated, and finally laid the foundation for what became the Royal
Academy. The catalogue to one of these first exhibitions was penned by
Dr. Johnson, and is written in his usual pompous style. The worthy
doctor had little appreciation for the fine arts, and in a private
letter to Baretti, speaking of this innovation, he says: "This
exhibition has filled the heads of artists and lovers of art. Surely
life, if it be not long, is tedious; since we are forced to call in
the assistance of so many trifles to rid us of our time--of that time
which never can return."
In 1768 the Royal Academy was founded by royal charter, and was opened
January 1, 1769. Reynolds had been elected its President, and in
accordance with the custom that prevails to this day, received,
together with this dignity, the compliment of knighthood. On this
occasion he delivered the first of his Discourses, in which, mingled
with general instructions concerning the purpose and method of art, we
find the needful servile adulation of the reigning sovereign. The
second, far more able and to the point, was delivered at the end of
the same year on the occasion of the distribution of prizes to the
students. It contains his admirable views with regard to copying. From
henceforth, on the same occasion, every two years, when the gold
medals are given, up to December 1790, Sir Joshua delivered such an
address to the students, making in all fifteen Discourses that are
read with pleasure to this day. At the last the hall was so crowded
that a beam supporting the floor actually gave way with the weight.
That outsiders should have been so eager to come is astonishing on
this account, that Reynolds, like most Englishmen, had no powers of
elocution. His manner in delivering his speeches was shy and awkward,
and he often spoke so low that those at some distance could not hear
him. His deafness in a measure may have accounted for this, for, like
all deaf people, he could not modulate his voice; but yet more, his
truly British horror lest he should seem to be posing as an orator.
It was no part of Sir Joshua's prescribed duty as President to deliver
an address on the presentation of medals; but, "if prizes were to be
given," he himself remarked in the last Discourse, "it appeared not
only proper, but indispensably necessary, that something should be
said by the President on the delivery of those prizes; and the
President, for his own credit, would wish to say something more than
mere words of compliment; which, by being frequently repeated, would
soon become flat and uninteresting, and, by being uttered to many,
would at last become a distinction to none. I thought, therefore, if I
were to preface this compliment with some instructive observations on
the art, when we crowned merit in the artists whom we rewarded, I
might do something to animate and guide them in their future attempts."
It was, perhaps, the fact that Reynolds intended this Discourse to be
his last, his farewell to the Academy he had served so long and well,
that attracted such a crowd. In it he takes a review of all his past
Discourses, and ends with commending to the students the works of his
idol, Michael Angelo. It was a source of joy to him that the last word
he spoke in that hall was the name of this adored master. "I felt a
self-congratulation in knowing myself capable of such sensations as he
intended to excite. I reflect, not without vanity, that these Discourses
bear testimony of my admiration of that truly divine man; and I should
desire that the last words which I should pronounce in this Academy, and
from this place, might be the name of _Michael Angelo_!"
Before the next occasion for a Discourse occurred Reynolds was quietly
sleeping his eternal sleep in St. Paul's Cathedral, having died February
23, 1792, after two years' suffering, borne with cheerful fortitude.
There are those who think that English art has rather retrograded than
progressed since the days of Reynolds. To those who speak thus it is
only needful to tell that Pliny already spoke of painting as a "dying
art." After this we need reason with such blind admirers of antiquity
_quâ_ antiquity no farther. That Reynolds was a great artist is
universally admitted beyond dispute; but to speak of him as the
greatest, as unapproachable henceforward, is as absurd as to claim, as
did his contemporaries, that anything so able as his art discourses
had never been penned. These were above all impressed by the undoubted
influence Johnson had upon Reynolds' style, giving it that pedantic
ring, that monotony of cadence, that want of colour, which is
precisely what we moderns least admire. We should hardly assent to the
contemporary lines lauding Dr. Johnson and saying--
"To fame's proud cliff behold our Raphael rise,
Hence Reynolds' pen with Reynolds' pencil vies."
But then, in any case, such fulsome flattery is not in accordance with
the spirit of our century. We might, too, now-a-days think it dubious
praise that Johnson, after reading one of his friend's essays and
praising it in general, should pick out one passage in particular with
the remark--"I think I might as well have said this myself." More
valuable we should consider the praise of Burke, who, writing to Mr.
Malone, says, "I have read over some part of the discourses with an
unusual sort of pleasure. . . . He is always the same man, the same
philosophical, the same artist-like critic, the same sagacious observer,
with the same minuteness, without the smallest degree of trifling."
This is true; Sir Joshua's polished mind and calm philosophical
observation makes itself felt in every line of his writings.
There was a time when envious calumny disputed the authorship of these
Discourses, attributing them now to Burke, now to Johnson. The
imputation is too futile to need refutation. There are those who deny
to any man the merit of having written his own works, commencing with
Homer and Shakespeare. This is a strange craze of the critical mind.
Seeing the work is the result of a human hand, why not, for example,
allow that Shakespeare wrote what he claims as his own, in lieu of
attributing the authorship to Lord Bacon? Again, why should there not
have been a Homer as there was a Dante, in lieu of an aggregation of
men? A very petty and despicable envy, or the frantic desire of saying
something new and strange to attract attention to ourselves, may be
pronounced the motor force of such theories.
Reynolds' Discourses may be described as the first attempt in the
English language at what may be called a philosophy of art. To this
day there are in English few works of this character. A science
corresponding to the German _Aesthetik_ does not exist in English, for
what modern cant has dubbed æstheticism, the child's play of
"passionate Brompton" and languishing South Kensington, must on no
account be confounded with a real serious study that in German
universities fills a special chair. The cause for this lack is no
doubt to be sought in the vastly diverse genius of the two nations.
The German is nothing if not abstract; the Englishman nothing if not
positive; and on this account the English take art, as well as all
else, from the practical side. To mention but a few German works of
this character. Hegel has written a philosophy of the fine arts
scarcely less valuable to art-students and painters, and perchance
even as unknown to the latter--for artists are rarely readers--as the
works of the same class written by Winckelmann and Lessing. Reynolds
addressed an audience not merely of readers and theoreticians, but of
actual workers, practical students; and he strove, therefore, to
combine theory with positive facts, hoping thus to bridge over the
gulf which made, and still unhappily makes, English art-students learn
their profession too much by mere rule of thumb. That Reynolds' work
is neither final nor all-embracing goes without saying. The mere fact
that these lectures were delivered but rarely, forming no designed
sequence, would have hindered such an end, even had Reynolds'
knowledge been sufficient to accomplish it. Under the circumstances,
it is sufficiently remarkable that they really form so complete a
whole as they undoubtedly do. The one leading idea that informs them
is the necessity for the student to study the works of the great
masters, above all of the Roman and Tuscan schools; and on this
doctrine, then so new, Reynolds could not insist enough. In his last
Discourse, with great modesty he sums up so ably what he has achieved,
that it is best to let him speak for himself. After saying how unequal
he had been to the expression of his ideas, he continues:--
"To this work, however, I could not be said to come totally unprovided
with materials; I had seen much, and I had thought much upon what I
had seen; I had something of a habit of investigation, and a
disposition to reduce all that I had observed and felt in my own mind
to method and system; but I thought it indispensably necessary well to
consider the opinions which were to be given out from this place, and
under the sanction of a Royal Academy; I therefore examined not only
my own opinions but likewise the opinions of others.
"In revising my discourses, it is no small satisfaction to be assured
that I have in no part of them lent my assistance to foster
_newly-hatched unfledged opinions_, or endeavoured to support
paradoxes, however tempting may have been their novelty, or however
ingenious I might, for the minute, fancy them to be; nor shall I, I
hope, anywhere be found to have imposed on the minds of young students
declamation for argument, a smooth period for a sound precept. I have
pursued a plain and _honest method_; I have taken up the art simply as
I found it exemplified in the practice of the most approved painters.
That approbation which the world has uniformly given, I have
endeavoured to justify by such proofs as questions of this kind will
admit; by the analogy which painting holds with the sister arts, and
consequently by the common congeniality which they all bear to our
nature. And though in what has been done no new discovery is
pretended, I may still flatter myself that from the discoveries which
others have made from their own intuitive good sense and native
rectitude of judgment (in allusion to the works of the old masters) I
have succeeded in establishing the rules and principles of our art on
a more firm and lasting foundation than that on which they formerly
had been placed."
It is worthy of note, as yet another proof of Sir Joshua's justice of
judgment and objectivity, that, speaking of portrait-painting
(_Discourse III._), he puts it low in rank among the various
departments of painting. He strove with all his power to elevate
English art methods, to lead artists to practice what he named the
"grand style," and it was on this account that he ever and always held
up to imitation the gods of his idolatry, Michael Angelo and
Raffaelle. What he writes concerning _pittori improvisatori_ may well
be laid to heart to-day when Impressionism threatens to swamp genuine
study and careful draughtsmanship. Indeed, looked at from all sides,
Sir Joshua's _Discourses_ worthily take rank among the English
classics, and it has been truly said that "with Reynolds' literature
was the playmate of art, and art became the handmaiden of literature."
That detractors have not been lacking is a matter of course, but
Reynolds, like others, can console himself with Goethe's lines--
"Die schlechsten Früchte sindd es nichtt
Woran die Wespen nagen."
Some of these objections merit reproduction. Who can read, for
instance, without a smile, the words of Blake, that sweet, childlike
mind, which was at once so penetrative and so uncritical? The smile
will of course be one of gentle sympathy, such as one ever accords to
that wayward genius. He writes in his notes--
"Whether Reynolds knew what he was doing is nothing to me. The
mischief is the same whether a man does it ignorantly or knowingly. I
always considered true art and true artists particularly insulted and
degraded by the reputation of these discourses; as much as they were
degraded by the reputation of Reynolds' paintings, and that such
artists as Reynolds are, at all times, hired by Satan for the
depression of art; a pretence of art to destroy art."
Once Blake finds a passage after his own heart: "A firm and
determined outline is one of the characteristics of the great style of
painting!" Against which is written, "Here is a noble sentence! a
sentence which overthrows all his book."
With no more than justice he remarks on the very weakest feature in Sir
Joshua's system: "Reynolds' opinion was, that genius may be taught, and
all pretence to inspiration is a lie or deceit, to say the least of it.
If it is deceit, the whole Bible is madness." Of the _Third Discourse_
he energetically avers: "The following discourse is particularly
interesting to blockheads, as it endeavours to prove that there is no
such thing as inspiration, and that any man of plain understanding may,
by thieving from others, become a Michael Angelo." Again--
"No real style of colouring now appears,
Save through advertisements in the newspapers;
Look there--you'll see Sir Joshua's colouring;
Look at his pictures--all has taken wing."
Again, when Reynolds tells his hearers that "enthusiastic admiration
seldom promotes knowledge,"--"And such is the coldness with which
Reynolds speaks! And such is his enmity! Enthusiastic admiration is the
first principle of knowledge and its last. How he begins to degrade, to
deny, and to mock! The man, who, on examining his own mind, finds
nothing of inspiration, ought not to dare to be an artist. He is a fool
and an amusing knave suited to the purposes of evil demons. The man who
never in his mind and thought travelled to Heaven is no artist. It is
evident that Reynolds wished none but fools to be in the arts, and in
order to compass this, he calls all others rogues, enthusiasts, or
madmen. What has reasoning to do with the art of painting?"
It is evident that Blake has not always fully followed Reynolds'
meaning. Indeed, Sir Joshua is at times a little obscure, a
circumstance his detractors did not overlook, nicknaming him Sir
Obadiah Twylight, and classifying his style as "sub-fusk."
Concerning this _Third Discourse_, which deals with the grand style
and the right imitation of nature, an anecdote is preserved. West was
at the time painting his picture of the "Death of Wolfe." When it was
understood that he meant to paint the characters as they actually
appeared on the scene, the Archbishop of York called on Reynolds and
asked his opinion concerning this. Both visited West and endeavoured
to dissuade him. West, firm in his rejection of the classic dress,
replied, "I want to mark the place, the time, and the people, and to
do this I must abide by truth."
When the picture was finished he called Sir Joshua to see it. Reynolds
seated himself before the canvas and examined it with interest for
half-an-hour, and then, rising, said, "West has conquered; he has
treated the subject as it ought to be treated." So just was Reynolds'
mind that he could admit the truth even when it opposed his own
theories.
Ruskin has also contributed his quota to the Reynolds controversy.
Writing in his favourite antithetic style, he says:--
"Nearly every word that Reynolds wrote was contrary to his own
practice; he seems to have been born to teach all error by his
precept, and all excellence by his example; he enforced with his lips
generalisation and idealism, while with his pencil he was tracing the
patterns of the dresses of the belles of the day; he exhorted his
pupils to attend only to the invariable, while he himself was occupied
in distinguishing every variation of womanly temper; and he denied the
existence of the beautiful at the same instant that he arrested it as
it passed, and perpetuated it for ever."
Thus to Sir Joshua's lot, as to all who put themselves before the
world, has fallen a portion of praise and blame; but the best praise
that can be accorded a man's work is that it should survive him, and
continue to arouse interest long after his death. This most certainly
is the case with regard to Reynolds' _Discourses_, and therefore to
them may apply what he has himself said as to the duration of
masterpieces. Not faultless, not all-embracing, but full of historical
and individual interest, of keen and careful observation, of judicious
thought, they merit the attention of the modern reading public--a
public far more largely interested in art than ever existed in the day
when their writer lived and painted and lectured.
HELEN ZIMMERN.
TO THE KING.
The regular progress of cultivated life is from necessaries to
accommodations, from accommodations to ornaments. By your illustrious
predecessors were established Marts for manufactures, and Colleges for
science; but for the arts of elegance, those arts by which
manufactures are embellished, and science is refined, to found an
Academy was reserved for Your Majesty.
Had such patronage been without effect, there has been reason to
believe that Nature had, by some insurmountable impediment, obstructed
our proficiency; but the annual improvement of the Exhibitions which
Your Majesty has been pleased to encourage, shows that only
encouragement had been wanting.
To give advice to those who are contending for royal liberality has
been for some years the duty of my station in the Academy; and these
Discourses hope for Your Majesty's acceptance, as well-intended
endeavours to incite that emulation which your notice has kindled, and
direct those studies which your bounty has rewarded.
May it please Your MAJESTY,
Your MAJESTY'S
Most dutiful Servant
And most faithful Subject,
[1778.] JOSHUA REYNOLDS.
TO THE MEMBERS
OF
THE ROYAL ACADEMY.
GENTLEMEN,