, which in published form, remain a formidable body of Classical doctrine. In his Discourses Reynolds outlined the essence of grandeur in art and suggested the means of achieving it through rigorous academic training and study of the Old Masters. From 1769 nearly all Reynolds's paintings appeared in the Academy. Reynolds's success as a portraitist was so great that he was employing studio assistants to lay out the canvases for him and to do much of the mechanical work. The artist's technique was sound, and many of his works of art suffered as a result. After his visit to the Netherlands where he studied the works of Rubens Reynolds's picture surface became far richer. This is particularly true of his portrait the
Duchess of Devonshire and Her Daughter. Reynolds's state portraits of the King and Queen were never successful, and he seldom painted for them. There is inevitably something artificial about the grandiloquence of the Classical or Renaissance poses in which he painted solid English men and women of his own day, investing them with qualities borrowed from a noble past. Nonetheless, we owe our impression of English aristocracy in the eighteenth century to his majestic portraits, with their contrived backgrounds of Classical architecture and landscape.
Lady Sara Bun-bury Sacrificing to the Graces, of 1783, speaks eloquently for itself. Among Reynolds's best works are those in which he departs from the tradition of ceremonial portraiture and abandons himself to inspiration, as in
The Portrait of Nelly O'Brien, which is aglow with light, warmth and feeling.
Make sure you know how to pronounce the following words:
Joshua Reynolds; Sarah; grandeur; inevitably; majestic; grandiloquence; discourses
Tasks
I. Read the text. Mark the following statements true or false.
1. Reynolds never travelled outside Britain.
2. The Royal Academy of Arts was founded in 1758.
3. Reynolds hired assistants to lay out the canvases for him.
4. Reynolds created state portraits of the King and Queen.
II. How well have you read? Answer the following questions:
1. Who became a target for Romantic attacks? Why?
2. What fascinated Reynolds during the Grand Tour?
3. What remains a formidable body of Classical doctrine?
4. How great was the success of Reynolds as a portraitist?
5. Whom did Reynolds portray? How did he depict them?
III. i. Give Russian equivalents of the following phrases:
a commanding figure; to speak eloquently; the preceding two centuries; to become a target for smb; the grandiloquence of the poses; the Royal Academy of Arts; to lay out the canvases.