Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
graver; his works were mass-produced, giving Londoners a sense of their city and them-
selves.
Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) and the “Grand Manner”
Real life wasn't worthy of a painting. So said Sir Joshua Reynolds, the pillar of Britain's
Royal Academy. Instead, people, places, and things had to be gussied up with Greek
columns, symbolism, and great historic moments, ideally from classical Greece.
In his portraits, he'd pose Lady Bagbody like the Medici Venus, or Lord Milquetoast
like Apollo Belvedere. In landscapes you get Versailles-type settings of classical monu-
ments amid perfectly manicured greenery. Inspired by Rembrandt, Reynolds sometimes
used dense, clotted paint to capture the look of the Old Masters.
This art was meant to elevate the viewer, to appeal to his rational nature and fill him
with noble sentiment. Sir Joshua Reynolds, the pillar of England's art establishment, stood
for all that was upright, tasteful, rational, brave, clean, reverent, and...zzzzzzz....
