colouring"; he continues, "no man indeed could teach me. If I have never
been settled with respect to colouring, let it at the same time be
remembered that my unsteadiness in this respect proceeded from an
inordinate desire to possess every kind of excellence that I ever saw in
the works of others, without considering that there are in colouring, as
in style, excellencies which are incompatible with each other.... I
tried every effect of colour, and by leaving out every colour in its
turn, showed every colour that I could do without it. As I alternately
left out every
[Illustration: PLATE XXXIX.--SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS
LADY COCKBURN AND HER CHILDREN
_National Gallery, London_]
colour, I tried every new colour; and often, as is well known,
failed.... My fickleness in the mode of colouring arose from an eager
desire to attain the highest excellence."
In the year 1759 Reynolds began to write, and three of his essays were
printed in the _Idler_, which was conducted by Dr. Johnson. Northcote
records that at the same time he committed to paper a variety of remarks
which afterwards served him as hints for his discourses. One or two of
these will give us as good an idea as we are likely to get from
elsewhere of what are the first requisites of a successful painter.
"It is absolutely necessary that a painter, as the first requisite,
should endeavour as much as possible to form to himself an idea of
perfection not only of beauty, but of what is perfection in a picture.
This conception he should always have fixed in his view, and unless he
has this view we shall never see any approaches towards perfection in
his works; for it will not come by chance.
"If a man has nothing of that which is called genius, that is, if he is
not carried away, if I may so say, by the animation, the fire of
enthusiasm, all the rules in the world will never make him a painter.
"He who possesses genius is enabled to see a real value in those things
which others disregard and overlook. He perceives a difference in cases
where inferior capacities see none; as the fine ear for music can
distinguish an evident variation in sounds which to another ear more
dull seem to be the same. This example will also apply to the eye in
respect to colouring."
In the beginning of the year 1760, Reynolds moved into the house on the
west side of Leicester Square which he occupied for the rest of his
life. It is now tenanted by Messrs. Puttick & Simpson, the Auctioneers.
Northcote has usefully recorded the following details his studio. His
painting-room was of an octagonal form, about twenty feet long and about
sixteen in breath. The window which gave the light to this room was
square, and not much larger than one half the size of a common window in
a private house, whilst the lower part of this window was nine feet four
inches from the floor. The chair for his sitters was raised eighteen
inches from the floor, and turned round on castors. His palettes were
those which are held by a handle, not those held on the thumb. The
sticks of his pencils (brushes) were long, measuring about nineteen
inches. He painted in that part of the room nearest the window, and
never sat down when he worked. As the actual methods of a great artist
are possibly of more value in a history of painting than the subjects,
or even the prices, of his pictures, I venture to quote the following
extracts from various parts of Sir Joshua's own memoranda:--
Never give the least touch with your pencil (_i.e._ brush) till you have
present in your mind a perfect idea of your future work.
Paint at the greatest possible distance from your sitter, and place the
picture ... near to the sitter, or sometimes under him, so as to see
both together.
In beautiful faces keep the whole circumference about the eye in a
mezzotinto, as seen in the works of Guido and the best of Carlo Maratti.
Endeavour to look at the subject or sitter from which you are painting,
as if it was a picture. This will in some degree render it more easy to
be copied.
In painting consider the object before you, whatever it may be, as more
made out by light and shadow than by lines.
A student should begin his career by a careful finishing and making out
the parts; as practice will give him freedom and facility of hand: a
bold and unfinished manner is commonly the habit of old age.
On painting a head--
Let those parts which turn or retire from the eye be of broken or mixed
colours, as being less distinguished and nearer the borders.
Let all your shadows be of one colour: glaze them till they are so.
Use red colours in the shadows of the most delicate complexions, but
with discretion.
Contrive to have a screen with red or yellow colour on it, to reflect
the light on the shaded part of the sitter's face.
Avoid the chalk, the brick dust, and the charcoal, and think on a pearl
and a ripe peach.
Avoid long continued lines in the eyes, and too many sharp ones.
Take care to give your figure a sweep or sway.
Outlines in waves, soft, and almost imperceptible against the
background.
Never make the contour too coarse.
Avoid also those outlines and lines which are equal, which make
parallels, triangles, etc.
The parts which are nearest to the eye appear most enlightened, deeper
shadowed, and better seen.
Keep broad lights and shadows, and also principal lights and shadows.
Where there is the deepest shadow it is accompanied by the brightest
light.
Let nothing start out or be too strong for its place.
Squareness has grandeur; it gives firmness to the forms; a serpentine
line in comparison appears feeble and tottering.
* * * * *
One is apt to forget in these enlightened days how greatly the art of
painting benefited by the establishment of public exhibitions.
Farington's observations on this point, occasioned by the inauguration
of the exhibitions at the Society of Arts from 1760, until the
foundation of the Royal Academy in 1768, are both instructive and
amusing.
"The history of our exhibitions," he says "affords the strongest
evidence of their impressive effect upon public taste. At their
commencement, though men of enlightened minds could distinguish and
appreciate what was excellent, the admiration of the _many_ was confined
to subjects either gross or puerile, and commonly to the meanest efforts
of intellect; whereas at this time (1819) the whole train of subjects
most popular in the earlier exhibitions have disappeared. The loaf and
cheese that could provoke hunger, the cat and canary bird, and the dead
mackerel on a deal board, have long ceased to produce astonishment and
delight; while truth of imitation now finds innumerable admirers though
combined with the highest qualities of beauty, grandeur and taste.
"To our public exhibitions, and to arrangements that followed in
consequence of their introduction this change must be chiefly
attributed. The present generation appears to be composed of a new and,
at least with respect to the arts, a superior order of beings. Generally
speaking, their thoughts, their feelings and language, differ entirely
from what they were sixty years ago. The state of the public mind,
incapable of discriminating excellence from inferiority proved
incontrovertibly that a right sense of art in the spectator can only be
acquired by long and frequent observation, and that without proper
opportunities to improve the mind and the eye, a nation would continue
insensible of the true value of the fine arts."
In view of these very pertinent observations it is worth inquiring a
little as to the origin of exhibitions in England, and the stimulus
given by them to British art before the institution of the Royal
Academy. From the introduction to book written by Edward Edwards, in
continuation of Walpole's "Anecdotes of Painters," and published in
1808, I extract the following account of them, as far as possible using
his own quaint phraseology.
Although the study of the human form had long been cultivated and
encouraged in Italy and France by national schools or academies, yet in
England until the eighteenth century such seminaries were unknown; and
it is therefore difficult to trace the origin or ascertain the precise
period when those nurseries of art were first attempted in this country,
especially as every establishment of that kind was, at first, of a
private and temporary nature, depending chiefly upon the protection of
some artist of rank and reputation in his day. The first attempt towards
the establishment of an academy is mentioned by Walpole as having been
formed by several artists under Sir Godfrey Kneller in 1711. Afterwards
we find, by other accounts in the same author, which are corroborated by
authentic information, that Sir James Thornhill formed an academy in his
own house, in the Piazza, Covent Garden. But this was not of long
duration, for it commenced in 1724 and died in 1734; which reduced the
artists again to seek some new seminary; for the public of that day were
so little acquainted with the use of such schools, that they were even
suspected of being held for immoral purposes.
After the death of Thornhill a few of the artists (chiefly foreigners),
finding themselves without the necessary example of the living model,
formed a small society and established their regular meetings of study
in a convenient apartment in Greyhound Court, Arundel Street. The
principal conductor of this school was Michael Moser, who when the Royal
Academy was established was appointed keeper. Here they were visited by
artists such as Hogarth, Wills, and Ellis, who were so well pleased with
the propriety of their conduct, and so thoroughly convinced of the
utility of the institution, that a general union took place, and the
members thereby becoming numerous, they required and sought for a more
convenient situation and accommodation for their school. By the year
1739 they were settled in Peter's Court, St Martin's Lane, where the
study of the human figure was carried on till 1767, when they removed to
Pall Mall.
But a permanent and conspicuous establishment was still wanting, and on
this account the principal artists had several meetings with a view to
forming a public academy. This they did not succeed in doing; but they
were so far from being discouraged that they continued their meetings
and their studies, and the next effort they made towards acquiring the
attention of the public was connected with the Foundling Hospital. This
institution was incorporated in 1739, and a few years later the present
building was erected; but as the income of the charity could not, with
propriety, be expended upon decorations, many of the principal artists
of that day voluntarily exerted their talents for the purpose of
ornamenting several apartments of the Hospital which otherwise must
have remained without decoration. The pictures thus produced, and
generously given, were permitted to be seen by any visitor upon proper
application. The spectacle was so new that it made a considerable
impression upon the public, and the favourable reception these works
experienced impressed the artists with an idea of forming a public
exhibition, which scheme was carried into full effect with the help of
the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce,
who lent their great room for the purpose.
The success of this, the first, public display of art was more than
equal to the general expectation. Yet there were some circumstances,
consequent to the arrangement of the pictures, with which the artists
were very justly dissatisfied; they were occasioned by the following
improprieties. The Society in the same year had offered premiums for the
best painting of history and landscape, and it was one of the conditions
that the pictures produced by the candidates should remain in their
great room for a certain time; consequently they were blended with the
rest, and formed part of the exhibition. As soon as it was known which
performances had obtained the premiums, it was naturally supposed, by
such persons who were deficient in judgment, that those pictures were
the best in the room, and consequently deserved the chief attention.
This partial, though unmerited, selection gave displeasure to the
artists in general. Nor were they pleased with the mode of admitting the
spectators, for every member of the Society had the discretionary
privilege of introducing as many persons as he chose, by means of
gratuitous tickets; and consequently the company was far from being
select, or suited to the wishes of the exhibition. These circumstances,
together with the interference of the Society in the concern of the
exhibition, determined the principal artists to withdraw themselves,
which they did in the next year.
Encouraged by the success of their first attempt, they engaged the great
room in Spring Garden, and their first exhibition at that place opened
on the 9th May 1761. Here they found it necessary to change their mode
of admission, which they did by making the catalogue the ticket of
admission; consequently one catalogue would admit a whole family in
succession, for a shilling, which was its price; but this mode of
admittance was still productive of crowd and disorder, and it was
therefore altered the next year. This exhibition, which was the second
in this country, contained several works of the best English artists,
among which many of the pictures were equal to any masters then living
in Europe; and so strikingly conspicuous were their merits, and so
forcible was the effect of this display of art, that it drew from the
pen of Roubilliac, the sculptor, the following lines, which were stuck
up in the exhibition room, and were also printed in the _St James's
Chronicle_:--
Pretendu Connoiseur qui sur l'Antique glose,
Idolatrant le hom, sans connoitre la Chose,
Vrai Peste des beaux Arts, sans Gout sans Equite,
Quitez ce ton pedant, ce mepris affecte,
Pour tout ce que le Tems n'a pas encore gate.
Ne peus tu pas, en admirant
Les Maitres de la Grece, ceux d l'Italie
Rendre justice egalement
A ceux qu'a nourris ta Patrie?
Vois ce Salon, et tu perdras
Cette prevention injuste,
Et bien etonne conviendras
Qu'il ne faut pas qu'un Mecenas
Pour revoir le Siecle d'Auguste.
"In the following season," says Edwards, "they ventured to fix the price
of _admission_ at one shilling each person, but had the precaution to
affix a conciliatory preface to their catalogue, which was given
gratis," As it is becoming more and more usual of late years to preface
a catalogue with a signed article, or, as in a recent instance, a
facsimile letter, it is interesting to know that this "conciliatory
preface" was written by Dr Johnson. As a document its value in the
history of the British School of Painting demands its reproduction here
in full:--
"The public may justly require to be informed of the nature and extent
of every design for which the favour of the public is openly solicited.
The artists who were themselves the first promoters of an exhibition in
this nation, and who have now contributed to the following catalogue,
think it therefore necessary to explain their purpose, and justify their
conduct. An exhibition of the works of art being a spectacle new in this
kingdom, has raised various opinions and conjectures among those who are
unacquainted with the practice in foreign nations. Those who set their
performances to general view, have been too often considered as the
rivals of each other; as men actuated, if not by avarice, at least by
vanity, and contending for superiority of fame, though not for a
pecuniary prize. It cannot be denied or doubted, that all who offer
themselves to criticism are desirous of praise; this desire is not only
innocent but virtuous, while it is undebased by artifice, and unpolluted
by envy; and of envy or artifice those men can never be accused, who
already enjoying all the honours and profits of their profession are
content to stand candidates for public notice, with genius yet
unexperienced, and diligence yet unrewarded; who without any hope of
increasing their own reputation or interest, expose their names and
their works, only that they may furnish an opportunity of appearance to
the young, the diffident, and the neglected. The purpose of this
exhibition is not to enrich the artist, but to advance the art; the
eminent are not flattered with preference, nor the obscure insulted with
contempt; whoever hopes to deserve public favour, is here invited to
display his merit. Of the price put upon this exhibition some account
may be demanded. Whoever sets his work to be shewn, naturally desires a
multitude of spectators; but his desire defeats its own end, when
spectators assemble in such numbers as to obstruct one another.
"Though we are far from wishing to diminish the pleasures, or to
depreciate the sentiments of any class of the community, we know,
however, what every one knows, that all cannot be judges or purchasers
of works of art. Yet we have already found by experience, that all are
desirous to see an exhibition. When the terms of admission were low, our
room was throng'd with such multitudes, as made access dangerous, and
frightened away those, whose approbation was most desired.
"Yet because it is seldom believed that money is got but for the love of
money, we shall tell the use which we intend to make of our expected
profits. Many artists of great abilities are unable to sell their works
for their due price; to remove this inconvenience, an annual sale will
be appointed, to which every man may send his works, and send them, if
he will, without his name. These works will be reviewed by the committee
that conduct the exhibition; a price will be secretly set on every
piece, and registered by the secretary; if the piece exposed for sale is
sold for more, the whole price shall be the artist's; but if the
purchasers value it at less than
[Illustration: PLATE XL.--SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS
THE AGE OF INNOCENCE
_National Gallery, London_]
the committee, the artist shall be paid the deficiency from the profits
of the exhibition."
* * * * *
This mode of admission was found to answer all the wished-for purposes,
and the visitors, who were highly respectable, were also perfectly
gratified with the display of art, which, for the first time, they
beheld with ease and pleasure to themselves.
The exhibition, thus established, continued at Spring Garden Room, under
the direction and management of the principal artists by whom it was
first promoted, and they were soon also joined by many of those who had
continued to exhibit in the Strand (_i.e._ at the Society of Arts,
etc.), which party being mostly composed of young men, and others who
chose to become candidates for the premiums given by the Society,
thought it prudent to remain under their protection. But the Society
finding that those who continued with them began to diminish in their
numbers, and that the exhibition interfered with their own concerns, no
longer indulged them with the use of their room, and the exhibitions at
that place terminated in 1764. These artists, who were mostly the
younger part of the profession at that time, thereupon engaged a large
room in Maiden Lane, where they exhibited in 1765 and 1766. But this
situation not being favourable, they engaged with Mr Christie, in
building his room near Pall Mall, and the agreement was that they should
have it for their use during one month every year, in the spring. Here
they contrived to support a feeble exhibition for eight years, when
their engagements interfering with Mr Christie's auctions, he purchased
their share of the premises, and they made their last removal to a room
in S. Alban's Street, where they exhibited the next season, but never
after attempted to attract public notice. It may be observed that while
this Society continued there were annually three exhibitions of the
works of English artists, namely, the Royal Academy, the Chartered
Society, and that last mentioned, the members of which styled themselves
the Free Society of Artists. Their exhibition was considerably inferior
to those of their rivals. By the Chartered Society, Edwards means the
artists who formed the exhibition at the Spring Garden Room, who in 1765
obtained a Charter from the king. Owing partly to internal
disagreements, but more no doubt to the foundation of the Royal Academy
in 1768, this Society gradually diminished in importance, until Edwards
could write of their exhibition in 1791 that "the articles they had then
collected were very insignificant, most of which could not be considered
as works of art; such as pieces of needlework, subjects in human hair,
cut paper, and such similar productions as deserve not the
recommendation of a public exhibition,"
* * * * *
To the first exhibition of the Royal Academy, which was opened on the
2nd of January 1769, Reynolds sent three pictures:--
_The Duchess of Manchester and her son, as Diana disarming Cupid._
_Lady Blake, as Juno receiving the Cestus of Venus._
_Miss Morris as Hope nursing Love._
That all of them were, so to speak, "fancy portraits" is not entirely
without significance. Portraiture, the painters bread and butter, was
apparently deemed hardly suitable for the occasion, and among a list of
the pictures which attracted most attention Northcote only includes the
portraits of the _King and Queen_ by Nathaniel Dance, _Lady Molyneux_ by
Gainsborough, and the _Duke of Gloucester_ by Cotes. The rest are as
follows:--_The Departure of Regulus from Rome_, and _Venus lamenting the
Death of Adonis_, by Benjamin West; _Hector and Andromache_, and _Venus
directing Aeneas and Achates_, by Angelica Kauffmann; _A Piping Boy_,
and _A Candlelight Piece_, by Nathaniel Hone; _An Altar-Piece_ of the
Annunciation by Cipriani; _Hebe_, and _A Boy Playing Cricket_, by Cotes;
A landscape by Barrett, and _Shakespeare's Black-smith_, by Penny.
In all, Reynolds exhibited two hundred and fifty-two pictures during the
thirty-two years of his life in which exhibitions existed, namely from
1760 to 1791; of which two hundred and twenty-eight went to the Royal
Academy.
Of these, or most of them, ample records and criticisms may be found in
the copious literature which has grown up around his name. For our
present purpose a glance at his influence, his methods, and his
circumstances has seemed to me to be more in point, and as a succinct
estimate of the man and his work from one of his most illustrious
contemporaries, the following passage may be added by way of
conclusion:--
"Sir Joshua Reynolds," wrote Edmund Burke six years after the painter's
death, "was on very many accounts one of the most memorable men of his
time. He was the first Englishman who added the praise of the elegant
arts to the other glories of his country. In taste, in grace, in
facility, in happy invention, and in the richness and harmony of
colouring, he was equal to the great masters of the renowned ages. In
portraiture he went beyond them, for he communicated to that description
of the art, in which English artists are the most engaged, a fancy and a
dignity derived from the higher branches, which even those who
professed, them in a superior manner, did not always preserve when they
delineated individual nature. His portraits remind the spectator of the
invention of history and the amenity of landscape. In painting portraits
he appeared not to be raised upon that platform, but to descend to it
from a higher sphere. His paintings illustrate his lessons, and his
lessons seem to be derived from his paintings. He possessed the theory
as perfectly as the practice of his art. To be such a painter, he was a
profound and penetrating philosopher."
* * * * *