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SUPPLEMENT 
 
 TO THE 
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LIFE, WRITINGS, DISCOURSES, AND PROFESSIONAL WORKS 
 
 SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, KNT. 
 
 LATE PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY. 
 
 COMPRISING 
 
 &trtj(tional WLnttnottg 
 
 OF HIS DISTINGUISHED CONTEMPORARIES. 
 
 BY JAMES NORTHCOTE, ESQ. R. A. 
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED FOR HENRY COLBURN, 
 
 BRITISH AND FOREIGN PUBLIC LIBRARY, CONDUIT-STREET, HANOVER-SQUARE ; 
 By J. Gillet, Crown-court, Fleet-street. 
 
 1815. 
 
f 
 
 SUPPLEMENT 
 
 TO THE 
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 OF 
 
 SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 Of a man so various in his knowledge, so accomplished in his 
 manners, and so eminent in his art, as Sir Joshua Reynolds, 
 it can scarcely ever be possible to give an adequate biography. 
 Had the Memoir been reserved for the nine years prescribed 
 by the poet,* still would it have appeared before the public 
 in an imperfect state : yet I do not hesitate to confess, that 
 if so much time for consideration and correction had been 
 allowed, many parts might have been deemed proper to be 
 omitted, and others more fully related, or more accurately 
 arranged. 
 
 But the occasion on which the work appeared, was import- 
 ant, and, from the very short time between the conception 
 and the execution of the attempt, any very near approach to 
 excellence ought not to have been expected, though perhaps 
 my endeavours have gone so far beyond mediocrity, as not to 
 be totally unworthy of him they were intended to celebrate. 
 
 That some addition, therefore, is wanted, will readily be 
 
 SUPPLEMENT. 
 
 * Horace. 
 B 
 
II 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 admitted ; not only as many anecdotes had escaped my own 
 recollection, but also, as it may naturally be supposed, that 
 the publication of a Memoir, of so distinguished a person, 
 would lead to my receiving details of many circumstances 
 respecting him, with which I was not before acquainted. At 
 the time of writing, these particulars would have been of great 
 value, but at this late period have caused me some little em- 
 barrassment in regard to the manner in which they should be 
 disposed. Considering the very favourable reception already 
 given, by the Public, to the Memoirs, I trust they will have 
 the same indulgence towards the additions which I here offer ; 
 several of the anecdotes, and authentic papers, having been 
 communicated to me by the kindness of friends. These, 
 together with my own memoranda, I have now carefully 
 arranged in a supplementary form, printed in a similar type 
 and manner with the original work ; so that those who favour 
 these additions with their notice, may bind them conveniently 
 with the former part. 
 
 Having given my reasons for adding a supplement to the 
 volume, the size of which may already have been complained 
 of as too large, I shall now avail myself of the opportunity to 
 notice a few observations that my friends have made, on 
 the perusal of those Memoirs, as being the most important 
 which have come to my knowledge. 
 
 That much new matter would be looked for, in such a work, 
 is not unreasonable ; yet if, in addition to my collection of 
 hitherto unpublished notices, I am to be blamed for having 
 taken many circumstances, relative to Sir Joshua Reynolds, 
 from the works of other writers, it should, at the same time, 
 be remembered, that my intention was to give a life of him, 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. Ill 
 
 as complete as was in my power ; therefore, in omitting 
 those particulars which I knew to be true, only because they 
 had already been presented to the world, though scattered 
 about in various publications, I must have rendered my own 
 memoir of him incomplete with respect to several important 
 facts, which are very probably unknown to many of my 
 readers ; so that my work would have been merely an appendix 
 to some lesser biographical sketch. 
 
 On this principle, I cannot help feeling that such facts 
 will be considered as having an undoubted right to the place 
 assigned them ; and I should have been liable to reprehension, 
 with stricter justice, for the omission of them. 
 
 The field of anecdote is an extensive one ; yet, when we 
 only glean, even after a plentiful harvest, our collection may 
 be but scanty, though composed, perhaps, of some weighty 
 ears : in fact, anecdotes are small characteristic narratives, 
 which, though long neglected or secreted, are always valuable, 
 as being frequently more illustrative of the real dispositions of 
 men than their actions of greater publicity, and therefore par- 
 ticularly requisite in biography. 
 
 To enter at large, indeed, into such particularity of circum- 
 stances, though highly useful, might be irksome to a philoso- 
 pher : still, it must be allowed that curiosity, a weakness so 
 incidental to mankind, ceases to be a weakness, when it occu- 
 pies itself respecting persons who may deserve to attract the 
 attention of posterity. 
 
 It is universally allowed, that no kind of reading is more be- 
 neficial than history, so it is likewise admitted, that there is no 
 class of historical writing so applicable to common instruction 
 as biography : for the lives of individuals are generally written 
 
 b 2 
 
IV 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 more naturally, and with greater sincerity, than larger histories ; 
 nay, it may be advanced, that, in respect to benefit and applica- 
 tion, we are much more interested in a knowledge of the lesser 
 occurrences, even of great men's lives, than of the more exalted 
 actions from whence they derive their glory, because it is in 
 every one's power to imitate them as men, though very few have 
 opportunities of emulating them as heroes. 
 
 To know what we ought to pursue, and by what road that 
 object may be attained, is, moreover, not the sole point which 
 ought to occupy our attention : there is another not less ne- 
 cessary — the knowledge of what we ought to avoid ; and on 
 that principle it appears, that even the lives of bad men may 
 become profitable examples, to point out the misery that ever 
 is attendant on bad conduct. 
 
 The developement of weaknesses, however, only serves to en- 
 tertain the malignant, except when the detail of those weak- 
 nesses may afford instruction, either from their fatal conse- 
 quences or when latent, and accompanying virtues have tended 
 to prevent the impending misfortune. But the most useful 
 and valuable lessons are often contained in those private papers 
 which eminent men leave behind them, and wherein their 
 minds have thrown off all reserve: — a few of which description 
 will be found in the course of this supplement. 
 
 On a careful examination of the " Memoirs," and a recur- 
 rence to former recollections, I find little to add to the 
 earlier incidents in the life of Sir Joshua,* except that I have 
 
 * Memoirs, page 5. Of that part of the family which died in infancy, one 
 child, named Theophila, lost her life by falling out of a window from the arms of 
 a careless nurse. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 V 
 
 been informed, that, at the period when his father intended 
 him for the practice of physic,* he paid some attention to the 
 study of anatomy, in order to qualify himself for the medical 
 profession ; but, if this were true, his works, do not evince 
 much progress in that science. 
 
 Notwithstanding his father's surprize at his first pictorial 
 efforts, t it does not appear, that he contemplated any extra- 
 ordinary consequences from them ; but how gratifying would it 
 have been to him had he lived to see the full accomplishment 
 of his early wonder ; for a man may perhaps have more pure 
 enjoyment, through an illustrious son, than if the fame was 
 all his own ; as persons are proud of illustrious ancestors, 
 because they think themselves possessed of all their glory, 
 and that without sharing in their disappointments, their fa- 
 tigues, or their dangers, in acquiring those honors. $ 
 
 * Mem. page 8. f Mem. page 10. 
 
 % In addition to Devonshire artists (Mem. page S.) perhaps it may not be im- 
 proper to notice Thomas Rennell, a scholar of Hudson, some years previous to the 
 time of Sir Joshua, who was born of a good family, long settled in that county, neais 
 Chudleigh, in the year 1718. After remaining some time at the grammar school of 
 Exeter, he was put apprentice to Hudson, the painter, in London. How long he 
 remained in that situation, I am not told, but, at his return into Devonshire settled at 
 Exeter, with a wife and family. In process of time, he removed to Plymouth, 
 where he resided many years, and drew several pictores, which were much admired 
 in that neighbourhood and gained the painter the patronage of the Duke and 
 Duchess of Kingston, who endeavoured to draw him from his obscurity, by a promise 
 of their house and interest in. London. But this splendid offer was lost in an indolent 
 mind; and from Plymouth Rennell went to settle at Dartmouth, where he lived in 
 great poverty several years. He has been known to lie in his bed for a week to- 
 gether, with no other subsistence than a cake and water. His art had only its turn 
 with other amusements; and if a picture was completed in twelve months, it might 
 be considered as very expeditious. No sooner was he in possession of a few 
 
VI 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 But Sir Joshua always through life considered himself as 
 particularly indebted to Mr. C ranch,* for the good advice by 
 which his father was persuaded to send him to the metropolis. 
 That gentleman possessed a small independent fortune, and 
 resided at the town of Plympton, living long enough to be 
 pleased by the justification of his early opinions respecting Sir 
 Joshua's future excellence ; and Reynolds, in grateful remem- 
 brance of that good opinion, many years afterwards had a 
 handsome silver cup made, for the purpose of presenting it to 
 
 pounds, than any stray object that presented itself was instantly bought, though, 
 by so doing, the necessaries of food and clothing were to be sacrificed. About 
 two years before his death, he experienced a comfortable asylum in the bounty of 
 J. Seale, Esq. of Dartmouth; and the manner of his end evinced his serenity, if 
 not stoicism. Being asked whether his pains were not intense, he replied — "No; 
 that they were such feelings as he could not describe, having never felt any thing 
 of the kind before :" then wishing his friend a good night, turned his head aside 
 and expired, October 19th, 1788. 
 
 The knowledge of Mr. Rennell was universal; for there was hardly a science 
 that did not come within the sphere of his comprehension. As a painter, he is 
 said to have possessed merit, particularly in the draperies of his portraits. In the 
 neighbourhood of Dartmouth are to be seen a few of his landscapes, but those very 
 bad. He was very fond of chemistry, to which he devoted a considerable portion 
 of his time. Most of his colours, which he prepared himself, went through that 
 operation : and he is said to have discovered the art of fixing those which are the 
 most fading. Of music he was passionately fond, and though he was not an excel- 
 lent performer on any instrument, he composed some pieces which display genius. 
 He also invented and constructed an instrument, containing sixty strings struck with 
 a bow, moved by the foot, and modulated by keys. Some of his poetical pieces 
 have been printed, but most of his papers were destroyed. Only one print has 
 been taken from his works; to wit, a raezzotinto scraped by Fisher : it is from a 
 portrait of the emiment Dr. John Huxham, M.D., of Plymouth, and the only 
 portrait ever done of that physician. 
 
 * Mem. page 12. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 VI J 
 
 his judicious friend. However, before that could take place, 
 Mr. C ranch's death prevented this act of gratitude ; but I 
 have often seen the cup at Sir Joshua's table. 
 
 That the state of the arts, at Sir Joshua's first arrival in 
 London, was deplorable, is allowed, though one or two excep- 
 tions were beginning to appear ; and Hogarth seems to have 
 been of opinion, that Hudson* was not the only painter of 
 his time that was indebted to Vanhaaken for assistance in 
 finishing portraits ; for on the death of this eminent drapery 
 painter, he produced a ludicrous caricature of Vanhaaken's 
 funeral procession, containing a long train, composed of all 
 the portrait painters of the metropolis, as mourners, and over- 
 whelmed with the deepest distress. The genius of Hogarth 
 was too great, and his public employment too little, to require 
 the assistance of a drapery painter, therefore he might safely 
 point his satire at those who did. 
 
 Early anecdotes of Sir Joshua, at that period, cannot be 
 very numerous, or very interesting ; but in recording that 
 respecting Pope,f I have done it as an instance to shew the 
 high respect that was paid to the poet whilst living, and also 
 with what reverence young Reynolds beheld genius, whether 
 poetic or graphical. 
 
 Sir Joshua, during his residence at Plymouth Dock,J though 
 he met, even there, with considerable employment, seems not 
 to have invariably exhibited striking symptoms of his future 
 excellence ; indeed, a few of his early productions arebut in- 
 different, being carelessly drawn, and frequently in common 
 place attitudes, like those of his old master Hudson, with 
 
 * Mem. page 12. 
 
 f Mem. page 14. 
 
 $ Mem. page 16. 
 
VIII 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO 
 
 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 one hand hid in the waistcoat, and the hat under the arm ; a 
 very favourite attitude with portrait painters, at that time, 
 because particularly convenient to the artist, as by it he got 
 rid of the tremendous difficulty of painting the hand. But 
 one gentleman, whose portrait Reynolds painted, desired to 
 have his hat on his head, in the picture, which was quickly 
 finished, in a common place attitude, done without much 
 study, and sent home ; where, on inspection, it was soon dis- 
 covered, that although this gentleman, in his portrait, had one 
 hat upon his head, yet there was another under his arm. This 
 picture I never saw ; but I have heard the anecdote so often 
 repeated, and from such authority, that I apprehend it to be 
 a truth. 
 
 It was at this period that he painted a portrait of Miss 
 Chudleigh, afterwards Duchess of Kingston, who was then on 
 a visit to Sal tram, near Plymouth, the seat of J. Parker, esq. 
 where he executed the picture ; and I have heard him say, 
 that Miss Chudleigh, at that period, was eminently beautiful, 
 and possessed the most delicate person he had ever seen, 
 though afterwards she grew extremely large and coarse. 
 
 Of other events, previous to his arrival at Rome, I have 
 nothing to add ; but, as a proof of his diligence whilst at 
 that capital of the arts,* I cannot omit giving a few of his 
 observations, which I have seen in his hand-writing, apparently 
 made on the spot, as remarks to refresh his memory, and 
 promote improvement in his future practice ; they may there- 
 fore be interesting to young artists. 
 
 " He says — " The Leda, in the Colonna Palace, by Corre- 
 
 * Mem. page 25. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 IX 
 
 gio, is dead coloured white, and black or ultramarine in the 
 shadows ; and over that is scumbled, thinly and smooth, 
 a warmer tint, I believe caput mortuum. The light:-, are 
 mellow, the shadows bluish, but mellow. The picture is 
 painted on a pannel, in a broad and large manner, but 
 finished like an enamel ; the shadows harmonize and are lost in 
 the ground. 
 
 " The Ecce Homo of Corregio, in the same palace. The 
 shadows are entirely lost in the ground ; perhaps more so by 
 time than they were at first. 
 
 " The Adonis of Titian, in the Colonna palace, is dead 
 coloured white, with the muscles marked bold : the second 
 painting, he scumbled alight colour over it : the lights a mel- 
 low flesh colour ; the shadows in the light parts of a faint 
 purple hue ; at least they were so at first. That purple hue 
 seems to be occasioned by blackish shadows under, and the 
 colour scumbled over them. 
 
 " I copied the Titian, in the Colonna collection, with white, 
 umber, minio, cinnabar, black ; the shadows thin of colour. 
 
 <c In respect to painting the flesh tint, after it has been 
 finished with very strong colours, such as ultramarine and 
 carmine, pass white over it, very, very thin with oil. I be- 
 lieve it will have a wonderful effect. 
 
 " Or paint the carnation too red, and then scumble it over 
 with white and black. 
 
 " Then," he adds, " dead colour with white and black 
 only ; at the second sitting, carnation. (To wit, the Barocci 
 in the palace Albani, and Corregio in the Pamphili.) 
 
 " Poussin's landscapes, in the Verospi palace, are painted 
 
 SUPPLEMENT. C 
 
X 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 on a dark ground made of Indian red and black. The same 
 ground might do for all other subjects as well as landscapes. 
 
 " Make a finished sketch of every portrait you intend to 
 paint, and, by the help of that, dispose your living model : 
 then finish at the first time on a ground made of Indian red 
 and black." 
 
 It may be seen by those various schemes, to which Reynolds 
 had recourse, how eager he was in the pursuit of excellence, 
 and they may serve as a good example to beginners : again he 
 remarks, that " all the shadows in the works of the Caracci, 
 Guercino, as well as the Venetian school, are made with little 
 colour, but much oil ; the Venetians' seem to be made only 
 of a drying oil, composed of red lead and oil. 
 
 <e In comparison with Titian and Paul Veronese, all the 
 other Venetian masters appear hard ; they have, in a degree, 
 the manner of Rembrandt ; all mezzotinto, occasioned by 
 scumbling over their pictures with some dark oil or colour.* 
 
 " After a strict examination of the best pictures, the benefit 
 to be derived from them, is to draw such conclusions as may 
 serve in future as fixed rules of practice ; taking care not to 
 be amused with trifles, but to learn to regard the excellencies 
 chiefly. 
 
 " There are some who are very diligent in examining pic- 
 tures, and yet are not at all advanced in their judgment ; 
 although they can remember the exact colour of every figure, &c. 
 
 * Titian, Paul Veronese, Tintoretto, Rubens, and Vandyke have painted drapery 
 admirably; and indeed the Lombard school have excelled in that and colouring, 
 as the Romans have in design and nudity. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 XI 
 
 in the picture : but not reflecting deeply on what they have 
 seen, or making observations to themselves, they are not at 
 all improved by the crowd of particulars that swim on the 
 surface of their brains ; as nothing enters deep enough into 
 their minds to do them benefit through digestion. 
 
 " A painter should form his rules from pictures, rather than 
 from books or precepts ; this is having information at the first 
 hand — at the fountain head. Rules were first made from 
 pictures, not pictures from rules. The first compilers of rules 
 for Painting were in the situation in which it is most desirable 
 a student should be. Thus, every picture an artist sees, 
 whether the most excellent or most ordinary, he should con- 
 sider from whence that fine effect, or that ill effect, proceeds ; 
 and then there is no picture, ever so indifferent, but he may 
 look at to his profit. 
 
 " The manner of the English Travellers in general, and of 
 those who most pique themselves on studying Vertu, is, that 
 instead of examining the beauties of those works of fame, and 
 why they are esteemed, they only enquire the subject of the 
 picture, and the name of the painter, the history of a statue, 
 and where it was found, and write that down. Some English- 
 men, while I was in the Vatican, came there, and spent above 
 six hours in writing down whatever the antiquary dictated 
 to them ; they scarcely ever looked at the paintings the 
 whole time." 
 
 He also made the following remarks on the eharacter given 
 of Apelles : — 
 
 " It is a matter of dispute among painters, whether Apelles 
 would be esteemed as a great painter were he now alive ; the 
 very argument I have heard urged against it is what persuades 
 
 c 2 
 
XII 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 me he was a good painter ; to wit, that he made use of but 
 four colours.* A remark made by Pliny is, that he polished 
 away, or varnished over his pictures, to take off their glaring 
 effect, and to deaden the tints ; but Pliny does not speak on 
 this point like a painter : he observed, that the pictures of 
 Apelles had not that raw and gaudy colouring like those of 
 his cotemporaries, and therefore imagined it was occasioned 
 by a varnish ; but it was from his judicious breaking those 
 colours to the standard of nature. 
 
 u The ancient painters, I am fully persuaded, by many 
 circumstances in the accounts given of them, painted in the 
 great and true style : of this, the following anecdote, mentioned 
 by Pliny, is a considerable confirmation. 
 
 " A painter had executed a picture which he valued for 
 what is alone truly valuable in painting, that is, character 
 and expression. On its being exposed in public, he was mor- 
 tified, to find, amongst other commendations, bestowed upon 
 this picture, a partridge admired that he had painted in a 
 corner of the picture, that it was so natural it looked to be 
 alive — he defaced it entirely. 
 
 " The Italians, at present, in their historical pictures, do not 
 attempt to paint the drapery to appear natural ; I believe for 
 no other reason than because their masters before them did not ; 
 for if they were guided by the same principle that influenced 
 their great predecessors, they would likewise avoid the glaring 
 colouring that at present they adopt, and attend more to a 
 grand simplicity in all the other branches of the art. 
 
 * It was always Sir Joshua's advice to his scholars, to use as few colours as pos- 
 sible, as the only means of being most secure from becoming heavy or dirty in 
 colouring. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 XIII 
 
 " When a true judge of art is wrapt in admiration on the 
 intellectual excellencies of a picture, it is with pain that he 
 hears a tame remark on the colouring, handling, &c. When, 
 like St. Paul, he is, by enthusiasm, lifted up (if I may so say) 
 to the third heaven, he is too high to observe the inferior 
 parts — he gazes only on the whole together. 
 
 " Suppose a person, while he is contemplating a capital 
 picture by Raffaelle, or the Carracci, whilst he is wrapt in 
 wonder at the sight of St. Paul preaching at Athens, and the 
 various dispositions of his audience, or is struck with the 
 distress of the mother, in the Death of the Innocents, or with 
 tears in his eyes beholds the dead Christ of Caracci, would it 
 not offend him to have his attention called off to observe a 
 piece of drapery in the picture naturally represented? 
 
 " Ilaffaelle had the true spirit and fire of his art ; all his 
 figures seem to be really and unaffectedly intently occupied 
 according to their intended destinations. This is the proper 
 spirit of Raffaelle ; instead of which we find, in most other 
 painters, ridiculous contortions of body, actions that we never 
 saw in nature, that, as Shakespeare humourously expresses 
 it, ' One would think that some of nature's journeymen had 
 made them, they imitate humanity so abominably.' 
 
 " We find Raffaelle, in his works, sometimes possessed, as 
 it were, with the very soul and spirit of Michael Angelo, 
 and perceive that it is from him he received his inspiration ; 
 witness his God the Father dividing Light from Darkness, 
 and Elias lifted up to Heaven. Raffaelle despised himself 
 when he saw the Capella Sistina of Michael Angelo, and 
 resolved to alter his own style entirely ; and there is as 
 great a difference between the Heliodorus and his other 
 
XIV 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 paintings in the Vatican, as there is between the Greek and 
 the Roman sculpture. 
 
 ee Sometimes a painter, by seeking for attitudes too much, 
 becomes cold and insipid. This is generally the case with 
 those who would have every figure a fine action ; they lose 
 sight of nature, and become uninteresting and cold. 
 
 " Another general fault is that which the French are com- 
 monly guilty of, seeking after what they call spirit and Jire, 
 and thus outstrip the modesty of nature, when their subject 
 requires no such fire, or perhaps quite the contrary ; how- 
 ever, they learnt it of him whom they esteem as perfection 
 itself — that was their master !" 
 
 I cannot agree altogether with Reynolds in loading the 
 fame of Raffaelle with so enormous a debt to Michael Angelo. 
 Raffaelle improved himself very much by seeing the works of 
 Leonardo da Vinci and Fra. Bartolomeo : but the true attri- 
 butes of Raffaelle, and by which he gains his highest fame, are 
 wholly his own ; and had he possessed nothing more than what 
 he gained from either Leonardo da Vinci, Fra. Bartolomeo, 
 or Michael Angelo, we should not at this time have held his 
 great name in reverence. 
 
 After Reynolds had discovered the excellencies of Raffaelle, he 
 very judiciously made several studies rather than copies from 
 the most striking heads in the Vatican, such as more parti- 
 cularly contained powerful hints to assist him in his future 
 practice, even in portrait, in respect to simplicity, dignity, 
 character, expression, and drawing. 
 
 Several of those heads are now in my possession. 
 
 The treasures of art * in the city of Rome, although so cap- 
 
 * Mem. page 29. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 XV 
 
 tivating to Reynolds, he at length thought it but prudent to. 
 quit, in order to have the more time to inspect the various 
 other schools of Italy, particularly those of Bologna and 
 Genoa, before he took his final farewell of that delightful 
 country ; I must not omit, in this place, therefore, to insert 
 the memoranda from his journal of what he saw at the latter 
 city. He says — 
 
 " In the Palazzo Durazzo, I saw a most admirable portrait 
 of a man by Rembrandt, his hands one in the other ; a prodi- 
 gious force of colouring. 
 
 " But the picture which should be first mentioned is very- 
 large, and the most capital one I have seen by Paul Veronese, 
 of Mary Magdalen washing the feet of Christ, containing about 
 ten figures as large as life, admirably finished. 
 
 " Three large pictures by Luca Jordano, the best likewise 
 of that master ; figures the size of life ; to wit — 
 
 " Seneca going into the bath ; 
 
 " A subject from Tasso's Jerusalem ; a man and woman 
 going to be burned at a stake ; 
 
 " A Perseus shewing Medusa's head ; many figures, some 
 of which appear to be turned to stone. 
 
 " In the gallery are a great number of statues ; I think the 
 one considered the best is that of Mercury. 
 
 " A picture of St. Stephen stoned ; said to be by Raftaelle. 
 
 f Palazzo of the Prince Doria. A magnificent fountain in 
 the middle of the garden, representing Neptune drawn by 
 sea-horses. 
 
 " This palace is uninhabited, so that scarcely any thing 
 remains worth seeing, but such works of art as they could not 
 
XVI 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 remove ; which are ceilings, and some of the walls painted by 
 Perino del Vaga. 
 
 " Palazzo Brignoli. A crucifix of white marble in a niche ; 
 a real light, within the niche, comes from above, which has a 
 fine effect. 
 
 " In the Palazzo Balbi, in Strada Balbi, are many good 
 pictures." 
 
 From a variety of observations on other places, I shall here 
 give one respecting the cupola of the cathedral of Parma, of 
 which he says — 
 
 " Relieve the light part of the picture with a dark ground, 
 or the dark part with a light ground, whichever will have the 
 most agreeable effect, or make the best mass. The cupola of 
 Parma has the dark objects relieved, and the lights scarcely 
 distinguishable from the ground. Some whole figures are con- 
 sidered as shadows ; all the lights are of one colour. It is in the 
 shadows only that the colours vary. In general, all the sha- 
 dows should be of one colour, and the lights only to be dis- 
 tinguished by different tints ; at least it should be so when the 
 back ground is dark in the picture." 
 
 At Florence, Reynolds spent only two months ; and at 
 Venice he made a still shorter stay — I think not more than six 
 weeks — yet it is that school which seems most powerfully 
 to have influenced the professional conduct of his life. 
 
 Soon after the return of Reynolds to his native land,* the 
 boldness of his youthful attempts, and the novelty of his style, 
 totally confounded all the old painters of that time, who had not 
 
 * Mem. page 32. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 XVII 
 
 yet given up the adoration to their idol, the late Sir Godfrey 
 Kneller ; and as no genius in art had appeared in England 
 from the period of Kneller's death, they were not prepared to 
 worship any other, or even to countenance any one guilty of 
 the heresy of differing in practice from him whom they held to 
 be absolute perfection in his line. The following anecdote 
 will serve to corroborate the foregoing remark, and some 
 others on the same subject in the body of the " Memoirs." — 
 Ellis, an eminent painter of that time, was one of the few 
 remaining artists of the school of Kneller, when Reynolds 
 began to be known and to introduce a style entirely new. 
 Having heard of the well-known picture of the Turkish boy,* 
 he called on Reynolds in order to see it ; and perceiving his 
 mode of painting to be very unlike the manner to which he 
 himself had always been accustomed, and indeed unlike any 
 thing he had ever seen before, he was as much astonished as 
 Hudson is said to have been, and, like him, exclaimed, "Ah! 
 Reynolds, this will never answer ! why, you don't paint in the 
 least degree in the manner of Kneller but when Reynolds 
 began to expostulate, and to vindicate himself, Ellis, feeling 
 himself unable to give any good reason for the objection he 
 had advanced, cried out in a ^reat rage, " Shakespeare in 
 poetry, and Kneller in painting, damme \ n and immediately 
 ran out of the room. 
 
 The prepossession of the English nation in favour of Kneller 
 and Lely, which Reynolds had to combat in the commence- 
 
 * Guiseppe Philippo Liberali Merclie, mentioned in page 33 of the Memoir, 
 from whom Reynolds painted the Turkish Boy, died in London on the 2d of Ap j iJ, 
 1808, at the age of 73. 
 
 SUPPLEMENT. D 
 
XVIII 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ment of his career, raised an over-violent prejudice in his 
 breast against those painters, and it continued to the end of 
 his life ; in one place he thus describes the artists of his 
 early days. 
 
 " Most of our portrait painters fall into one general fault. 
 They have got a set of postures, which they apply to all per- 
 sons indiscriminately ; the consequence of which is, that all 
 their pictures look like so many sign-post paintings ; and if 
 they have a history or a family-piece to paint, the first thing 
 they do is to look over their common-place book, containing 
 sketches which they have stolen from various pictures ; then 
 they search their prints over, and pilfer one figure from one 
 print, and another from a second, but never take the trouble 
 of thinking for themselves : on the contrary, the painter, who 
 has a genius, first makes himself master of the subject he is to 
 represent, by reading, or otherwise ; then works his imagina- 
 tion up to a kind of enthusiasm, till he in a degree perceives 
 the whole event, as it were, before his eyes, when, as quick as 
 lightning, he gives his rough sketch on paper or canvas. By 
 this means his work has the air of genius stamped upon it, 
 whilst the contrary mode of practice will infallibly be produc- 
 tive of tameness, and of such pictures as will have the sem- 
 blance of copies. After the painter has made his sketch from 
 bis idea only, he may be allowed to look at the works of his 
 •predecessors for dresses, ornaments, &c, of the times he intends 
 to represent. 
 
 " Every man is a painter for himself ; whenever he hears or 
 reads any remarkable event, be forms to himself the looks, 
 actions, and even the ground on which it was transacted. The 
 painter has nothing to do, but to copy those images on canvas 
 which he has in his mind s eye." 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 XIX 
 
 <c Suidas says that Phidias and Zeuxis were both of them 
 transported by the same enthusiasm that gave life to all their 
 works."* 
 
 In some other observations on the French painters of that 
 day, Reynolds said — " The French cannot boast of above one 
 painter of a truly just and correct taste, free of any mixture 
 of affectation or bombast, and he was always proud to own 
 from what models he had formed his style ; to wit, Raffaelle 
 and the antique : but all the others of that nation seem to 
 have taken their ideas of grandeur from Romances, instead of 
 the Roman or Grecian histories. Thus their heroes are decked 
 out so nice and so fine, that they look like knights errant just 
 entering the lists at a tournament in gilt armour, and loaded 
 
 * The following anecdote has been communicated to me by a friend, respecting 
 a modern sculptor, of whom some notice has already been taken. 
 
 " Roubiliac, being on a visit in Wiltshire, happened to take a walk in a church- 
 yard on a Sunday morning, near Bowood, just as the congregation was coming 
 out of church ; and meeting with old Lord Shelbume, though perfect strangers to 
 each other, they entered into conversation, which ended in an invitation to dinner, 
 When the company were all assembled at table, Roubiliac discovered a fine antique 
 bust of one of the Roman Empresses, which stood over a side-table, when imme- 
 diately running up to it with a degree of enthusiasm, he exclaimed, " What an 
 air! what a pretty mouth ! what tout ensemb/e!" The company began to stare at 
 one another for some time, and Roubiliac regained his seat; but instead of eating 
 his dinner, or shewing attention to any thing about him, he every now and then 
 burst out into fits of admiration in praise of the bust. The guests by this time,, 
 concluding he was mad, began to retire one by one, till Lord Shelburne was 
 almost left alone. This determined his Lordship to be a little more particular ; 
 and he now, for the first time, asked him his name. " My name !" says the other, 
 " What, do you not know me then f My name is Roubiliac." — " I beg your 
 pardon, Sir," said his Lordship; I now feel that I should have known you." Then 
 calling on the company, who had retired to the next room, he said, " Ladies and 
 gentlemen, you may come in ; this is no absolute madman. This is M. lloubiliae, 
 the greatest statuary of his day, and only occasionally ma. I in the admiration of 
 his art." 
 
XX SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 most unmercifully with silk, satin, velvet, gold, jewels, &c. 
 and hold up their heads, and carry themselves with an air like 
 a petit-maitre with his dancing-master at his elbow : thus cor- 
 rupting the true taste, and leading it astray from the pure, the 
 simple, and grand style, by a mock majesty and false magni- 
 ficence. Even the rude uncultivated manner of Caravaggio 
 
 Do 
 
 is still a better extreme than those affected turns of the head, 
 fluttering draperies, contrasts of attitude, and distortions of 
 passion." 
 
 From the second portrait which Reynolds painted in the 
 metropolis,* that of William, second Duke of Devonshire, a 
 print was taken in mezzotinto, and it is said to be the first 
 print ever taken from any of his works. This could not fail 
 to have some effect upon public opinion ; but it will, no doubt, 
 be interesting to have a sketch of his own feelings at the time 
 from some manuscript memorandums, written carelessly, and 
 apparently in haste, and in which I find the following obser- 
 vations, evidently referring to the fashionable painting of 
 Liotard,f and affording us some idea of the false taste pre- 
 valent in England at that period. He says — 
 
 " It requires an uncommon share of boldness and perse- 
 verance to stand against the rushing tide of Gothicism. A 
 painter that would please, and has no greater views than 
 making his fortune, I should advise, instead of studying the 
 solemnity of Raffaelle, Poussin, or the Caraccis, to turn his 
 eyes on the beautiful and pleasing manner of painting that is 
 practised by the ingenious fan painters. There he will find 
 what is so often called out for — " Give me daylight — in 
 those works he will find daylight enough ; and if he studies 
 the bright and beautiful colours there made use of, he will 
 
 * Mem. page 34. 
 
 f Mem. page 35. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. XXI 
 
 merit the deserved and wislied-for character of a pleasing 
 painter. But to be serious ; I do not know so despicable a 
 character in the art, as what is understood in general as a 
 pleasing painter ; nor any thing that gives me a greater pre- 
 judice against a work, than when I am told I shall see a 
 pleasing picture ; such works are commonly faint, spiritless, 
 gaudy things ; how unlike the divine and noble vigour of 
 Itaffaelle! 
 
 " It is but a cold commendation to say of a painter — he 
 pleases, and does no more. He ravishes ; he transports with 
 admiration ; he seeks to take possession rather of your soul 
 than of your eyes !— such is the character of a truly great 
 painter. 
 
 " It is a melancholy reflection to a painter, who has ambi- 
 tion, to think that a picture painted in the style and manner 
 of the greatest masters, should not please the nation where he 
 is obliged to live. 
 
 " Those who are novices in connoissance judge of a picture 
 only by the name of the painter ; others, more advanced in 
 knowledge of art, have a desire to think differently from the 
 rest of the world in respect to the most famous pictures ; and, 
 again, from that partiality which men have to their own dis- 
 coveries, will find out merits in pictures universally con- 
 demned." 
 
 A real painter should be above any regard to pleasing the 
 vulgar, whose judgment is governed solely by accident or 
 caprice, and who are better pleased with a tawdry and false 
 taste than with the pure, simple, and grand gusto of Raffaelle, 
 which is too deep to be reached by their superficial imagina- 
 tion ; but artists should not be content with admiring the 
 
XXII 
 
 SUPPLEMENT 
 
 TO THE 
 
 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 effect ; let them carefully examine into the causes, and in so 
 doing, they will find more art, and knowledge of nature, than 
 they are at first aware of. 
 
 In addition to his several bold, because early, advances to a 
 judicious and original style in portrait painting,* I may also 
 record one which I have seen ; a portrait painted at this time 
 of a Captain Orme, aid-du-camp to General Braddock. This 
 picture attracted much notice by its boldness, and singularity 
 of the attempt. It is a full length, wherein a horse is repre- 
 sented at the side of the officer ; an effort in composition, so 
 new to his barren competitors in art, as must have struck 
 them with dismay, for they dared not venture on such perilous 
 nights of invention. It must be observed that it is a very 
 sombre picture, yet it possesses great merit. 
 
 In his own memoranda, written at this period,! a circum- 
 stance is giveu, which proves the quickness of his percep- 
 tion, and the use he made of it. He there describes the 
 effect which a certain picture, by an old master, had upon 
 one of his sitters ; but as he does not specify the particular 
 picture, we can only judge of its excellence from the trait 
 recorded. It was a work, however, which he himself greatly 
 admired, and at that time was hung up as one of the orna- 
 ments of his painting-room. 
 
 " To support," he says, " my own opinion of the excel- 
 lence of this picture by a high authority, I cannot forbear 
 
 the temptation of mentioning, that Lord , whilst I had 
 
 the honour of drawing his portrait, could not keep from 
 turning his eyes from me, and fixing them on this picture in 
 
 * Mem. page 37- 
 
 f Mem. page 39. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. If X fit 
 
 raptures, with such an expression in his countenance as may 
 be imagined from a man of his tender feelings. I snatched 
 the moment, and drew him, as he then appeared to me, in 
 profile, with as much of that expression of a pleasing melan- 
 choly as my capacity enabled me to hit off; when the picture 
 was finished, he liked it, and particularly for that expression, 
 though I believe without reflecting on the occasion of it If 
 
 In regard to Reynolds's first acquaintance with Johnson, I 
 have little to add ; yet, with respect to the book which first 
 engaged his attention towards the latter,* it is worthy of remark 
 how conspicuous the extraordinary credulity of Johnson ap- 
 pears in his life of Savage. It is wonderful, indeed, that he did 
 not convince himself whilst he was writing it, as there needs no 
 other witness than his own narrative, to prove that he attempts 
 to vindicate an imposture ! 
 
 Of Johnson's pride, | I have heard Sir Joshua himself ob- 
 serve, that if any man drew him into a state of obligation 
 without his own consent, that man was the first he would 
 affront, by way of clearing oft* the account. There is, in some 
 men's minds, a repugnance to, nay an abhorrence of, a depen- 
 dant state of obligation, or of resting on another's patronage. 
 This at its birth proceeds from dignity of soul, and proves the 
 consciousness of inward strength. A virtuous reverence of 
 ourselves is the foundation of respect from others ; yet care 
 should be taken that it does not swell into deformity, or lose 
 its native comeliness and virtuous principle from being nursed 
 and tutored by pride. 
 
 With respect to a state of obligation, one great inconve- 
 
 * Mem. page .'39. 
 
 f Mem. page 41. 
 
4 
 
 XXIV SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 nience certainly may attend it, which is, that at some time it 
 is possible that the patron may give a real and sufficient cause 
 to his humble dependant to be offended. The meek sufferer 
 is then in a dilemma. If he patiently swallows the bitter 
 potion from a sense of duty for former favours, he will be 
 considered as a slave, and as mean in spirit ; and, on the other 
 hand, to resent it like a man, will, to many, appear much 
 like ingratitude. Yet, again, to determine, like Johnson, to 
 go through life, and to resist all patronage whatsoever, may 
 indicate a proud and unsocial spirit ! 
 
 Of all charities, that of employing the poor is the most cha- 
 ritable, and best patronage. It is in a manner to double the 
 obligation by lessening it ; it being more grateful to any man 
 to put him in a capacity of relieving himself, than to make 
 him a pensioner to others. It is turning a bounty into a reward, 
 and promoting industry. 
 
 For industry is the heir apparent to bounty ; poverty but 
 the presumptive heir. 
 
 I have already noticed, that in the year 1755,* Reynolds 
 was still advancing in fame, and in his memoranda of the 6th 
 of December of that year, I find the following record of the 
 colours he then made use of, and of the preparation of his 
 pallet — 
 
 " For painting the flesh ; black, blue black, white, lake, 
 carmine, orpiment, yellow ochre, ultramarine, and varnish. 
 
 " To lay the pallet ; first lay carmine and white in different 
 degrees ; second, lay orpiment and white, ditto ; third, lay 
 blue black, and white, ditto. 
 
 * Mem. page 48. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 XXV 
 
 " The first sitting, for expedition, make a mixture on the 
 pallet as near the sitter's complexion as you can." 
 
 He adds also this observation on colouring : — 
 
 " To preserve the colours fresh and clean in painting, it 
 must be done by laying on more colours, and not by rubbing 
 them in when they are once laid ; and, if it can be done, they 
 should be laid just in their proper places at first, and not any 
 more be touched : because the freshness of the colours is tar- 
 nished and lost by mixing and jumbling them together ; for 
 there are certain colours which destroy each other by the 
 motion of the pencil when mixed to excess." 
 
 It was about the period of 1758, when his price was only 
 twenty guineas a head,* that Reynolds found his profession the 
 most lucrative ; as I have heard himself confess that at that 
 time he received six sitters in the day, and found it necessary 
 to keep a list of the names of those who waited, until vacan- 
 cies occurred, in order to have their portraits painted by him. 
 He then received them in the order in which they were set 
 down in the list ; and many of those portraits were sent home, 
 even before the colours were dry. 
 
 He also kept a port-folio in his painting-room, containing 
 every print that had then been taken from his portraits ; so 
 that those who came to sit, had this collection to look over, 
 and if they fixed on any particular attitude, in preference, he 
 would repeat it precisely in point of drapery and position, as 
 this much facilitated the business, and was sure to please the 
 sitter's fancy. t 
 
 * Mem. page 49. 
 
 f In an account of the rise of the aits, or the encouragement given to them in 
 SUPPLEMENT. E 
 
XXVI SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 He now engaged several drapery painters to assist him ; in- 
 deed, I have heard him observe that no man ever acquired a 
 fortune by the work of his own hands alone. 
 
 this country, at the time when Reynolds was fast advancing towards the attainment 
 of fame, it may not be unsuitable to mention, what all preceding biographers have 
 passed over, the liberality of the Duke of Richmond. The following is the copy 
 of an advertisement which was published in the weekly papers during the years 1758 
 and 1759 
 
 " For the use of those who study 
 Painting, Sculpture, and Engraving, will be opened, 
 On Monday, the 6th of March next, 
 At his Grace the Duke of Richmond's, 
 In Whitehall, 
 
 " A room containing a large collection of original plaister casts from the best 
 antique statues and busts which are now at Rome and Florence. 
 
 " It is imagined that the study of these most exact copies from antiques may 
 greatly contribute towards giving young beginners of genius an early taste and 
 idea of beauty and proportion, which, when thoroughly acquired, will, in time, 
 appear in their several performances. 
 
 " The public is therefore advertised, that any known painter, sculptor, carver, or 
 other settled artist, to whom the study of these gessos may be of use, shall 
 have liberty to draw or model from any of them, at any time ; and upon applica- 
 tion to the person that has the care of them, any particular figure shall be placed 
 in such light as the artist shall desire. 
 
 " And, likewise, any young man or boy, above the age of twelve years, may also 
 have the same liberty, by a recommendation from any known artist to Mr. Wilton, 
 sculptor, in Hedge Lane. 
 
 " For these young persons, a fresh statue or bust will be set once a week or fort- 
 night in a proper light for them to draw from. 
 
 " They will only be admitted from the hour of nine to eleven in the morning, and 
 from the hour of two to four in the afternoon. 
 
 " On Saturday, Messrs. Wilton and Cipriani will attend to see what progress 
 each has made, to correct their drawings and models, and give them such instruc- 
 tions as shall be thought necessary. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 XXVII 
 
 In addition to what I have already said respecting Rey- 
 nolds's contributions to the Idler,* I may here add, that at 
 that time he had also committed to paper a variety of remarks 
 on the occasion, which afterwards served him as hints for his 
 discourses ; and from those unfinished memoranda I now 
 insert a few of his first thoughts, evidently drawn up as matter 
 of caution for himself : — 
 
 " Avoid that insipidity which is very commonly the result, 
 when you take your ideas from any preceding master. Sal- 
 vator Rosa saw the necessity of trying some new source of 
 pleasing the public in his works. The world were tired with 
 Claude Lorraine's and Gasper Poussin's long train of imi- 
 tators. 
 
 " Salvator, therefore, struck into a wild, savage kind of 
 nature, which was new and striking. Sannazarius, the Italian 
 poet, for the same reason, substituted fishermen for shepherds, 
 and changed the scene to the sea. 
 
 " Nobody is to touch any of the gessos upon any account, or to move thern out of 
 their places, or draw upon either them, their pedestals, or the walls of the room ; 
 any person offending in such manner will be dismissed, and never admitted again 
 upon any consideration. 
 
 " There will be given, at Christmas and Midsummer, annually, to those who dis- 
 tinguish themselves by making the greatest progress, the following premiums; 
 
 " A figure will be selected from the rest, and a large silver medal will be given for 
 the best design of it, and another for the best model in basso relievo. 
 
 " A smaller silver medal for the second best design, and one for the second best 
 basso relievo. 
 
 " The servant who takes care of the room has strict orders not to receive any 
 money. 1 1 is therefore hoped and expected that none will be offered." 
 
 London Chronicle, Feb. 25, 1758- 
 
 * Mem. page 52. 
 
 E 2 
 
XXVIII 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 " The want of simplicity in the air of the head, the action of 
 the figure, and colour of the drapery, is destructive of dignity. 
 If a painter has a true taste for simplicity, it will be discovered 
 in every part of his work, even his colouring ; there is a pure, 
 chaste modesty, as it may be called, in opposition to a bold, 
 impudent, glaring colour, such as you see in ordinary painters' 
 works. 
 
 " Indeed, the want of simplicity is the prevailing error in 
 most painters respecting their works. They are apt to think 
 they can never enrich their pictures too much : their colours 
 are gaudy in the extreme : but what I particularly object 
 against is the violent love that almost all of them have for 
 contrast : and I dare say there is scarcely a painter but thinks 
 he can never contrast his figures too much. 
 
 " The French writers on painting, which are the best we 
 have, are fond of talking of contrast : — " If one figure," says 
 Du Piles, " is with the face towards you, let the next to it 
 shew his back." Those rules can only proceed from a narrow- 
 minded mechanical artist ; and not from one who has studied 
 nature, the antique, Raffaelle, or the Carraccis. I do not mean 
 to say that such contrast will always have a mean effect ; but 
 to establish it as an inviolable rule is absurd, and tends to 
 destroy the greatest beauty of a painting, which should repre- 
 sent pure, unaffected nature. By means of those studied con- 
 trasts, no figure so placed can appear eager and intent on 
 what he is about. It gives also a hurry and confusion to the 
 composition of the picture ; and of consequence, the same 
 hurry of imagination to the spectator, and deprives the work 
 of its most noble quality, which is the majesty of repose. 
 
 < c When I think of this high principle of the art, it always 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 XXIX 
 
 brings to my mind the finest pictures at Bologna by Lud. Car- 
 racci, and the Transfiguration by Raffaelle. In this last, every 
 figure is animated, ardent, and intent on what he is engaged in, 
 but still with dignity ; then there is also a certain solemnity 
 pervading the whole picture which must strike every one with 
 awe and reverence, that is capable of being touched by any ex- 
 cellence in works of art. 
 
 " When I have stood looking at that picture from figure to 
 figure, the eagerness, the spirit, the close unaffected atten- 
 tion of each figure to the principal action, my thoughts have 
 carried me away that I have forgot myself; and for that time 
 might be looked upon as an enthusiastic madman : for I could 
 really fancy the whole action was passing before my eyes. 
 How superior is this power of leading captive the imagination, 
 to thatof producing natural drapery, although so natural, that, as 
 the phrase is, it looks as if you could take it up ! A picture 
 having this effect on the spectator, he need not ask his cicerone 
 whether it is a good picture or not, nor endeavour to criticise 
 it by the help of any rules he may have learned from books. 
 
 " But whilst others only admire the work, it is the artist's 
 business to examine from whence this effect proceeds. I will 
 take the liberty of giving a hint ; others may carry it further. 
 The solemnity that the picture first strikes you with, pro- 
 ceeds from its not having too much light, for the same reason 
 that the light of the evening is more solemn than the gay sun at 
 noon day; consequently, he, who would attempt the heroic 
 style in painting, should never set his figures in bright sun- 
 shine ;* and it is for this reason I have often said, that 
 
 * Vide King John tampering with Hubert, from Shakespeare. 
 
XXX 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Rubens's colouring, although a much more esteemed colouiist 
 than Raffaelle, would degrade and ruin Raffaelle's pictures. 
 
 " Another excellence in the picture of the Transfiguration 
 is the noble kind of harmony of the colouring ; a quality, 
 perhaps, this picture has never been remarked for before. It 
 is one of the vulgar errors to imagine, that a picture can never 
 have too much harmony ; hence painters, by breaking their 
 colours too much, reduce their picture to be an imitation of a 
 painting on a lady's fan, and entirely destroy its effect when 
 seen at any distance, those broken colours being too weak to 
 preserve their proper degree of force. For instance, the works 
 of Luca Jordano, by an over fondness for this sort of harmony, 
 when they are placed at a distance from the spectator, look 
 altogether like the colour of milk and water. A very close 
 comparison may be made between the harmony of music and 
 that of painting. Music of the soft, gentle, and delicate kind, 
 intended to be heard best when near, requires the notes to be 
 soft, and fall gently into each other, without any harshness in 
 their extremes ; whilst, on the contrary, the more masculine 
 and noble style of music, such as marches, &c. should be bold 
 and loud. 
 
 te The same rule applies to poetry. The smooth numbers of 
 Pope are not so grand as the masculine style of Milton and 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 <c Rembrandt was harmonious rather too much ; he wanted 
 opposition. Luca Jordano was often the same, but wanted 
 that fine taste of colouring. 
 
 '* Berghem was too red. 
 
 " There cannot be found a better instance of breadth and 
 distinctness of light and shadow, than in a figure by Fiamingo, 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 XXXI 
 
 in the church of St. Peter's at Rome, a full length statue of 
 St. Bartholomew, four times the size of life. The other 
 statues, which are near it, appear all of a mass, and make 
 neither light nor shadow. 
 
 " It is absolutely necessary that a painter, as the first requi- 
 site, 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 per- 
 ceives 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. 
 
 " One who has a genius will comprehend in his idea the 
 whole of his work at once ; whilst he who is deficient in genius 
 amuses himself with trifling parts of small consideration, 
 attends with scrupulous exactness to the minuter matters 
 only, which he finishes to a nicety, whilst the whole together 
 has a very ill effect. 
 
 " A painter should have a solid foundation in the principles 
 of his art ; so as to be able to vindicate his works whenever 
 
XXXII 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 they may be unjustly censured ; and not of such an unstable 
 judgment as to estimate the merit of his pieces by the 
 money they bring him. 
 
 " The most general rule in the choice of subjects fit for the 
 purpose of the art is that of Horace : — 
 
 " Omne tulit punctum, qui miscuit utile dulci, 
 Lectorem delectando pariterque monendo." 
 
 Such were his desultory thoughts to which he could recur to 
 refresh his memory as occasion might require. 
 
 With respect to the permanent residence which he fitted up 
 in Leicester Fields,* it may perhaps be gratifying to young 
 beginners in the art to be informed of some minute particulars 
 concerning the apparatus of a painter, who was so successful 
 and became so illustrious in his profession. 
 
 His painting room was of an octagonal form, about twenty 
 feet long, and about sixteen in breadth. The window which 
 gave the light to this room was square, and not much larger 
 than one hall 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 
 pallets were those which are held by a handle, not those held 
 on the thumb. The sticks of his pencils were long, measuring 
 about nineteen inches. He painted in that part of the room 
 nearest to the window ; and never sat down when he worked. 
 
 The carriage which he set up, on removing to that house, 
 was particularly splendid, the wheels were partly carved and 
 
 * Mem. page 53. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 XXXIII 
 
 gilt ; and on the pannels were painted the four seasons of the 
 year, very well executed by Charles Catton, R. A., the most 
 eminent coach painter of his day. 
 
 The coachman frequently got money by admitting the 
 curious to a sight of it ; and when Miss Reynolds complained 
 that it was too shewy, Sir Joshua replied, " What ! would you 
 have one like an apothecary's carriage ?" 
 
 I have recorded an anecdote of a complimentary style from 
 the pen of Sterne,* and I may also notice another, when 
 speaking of an awkward attitude into which father Shandy had 
 put himself in order to reach his pocket handkerchief with his 
 left hand, whilst he had employed his right hand in holding his 
 wig, and which awkwardness might have been totally avoided 
 by only taking off his wig with his left hand, and leaving his 
 right hand at liberty for his handkerchief — " Then, his whole 
 attitude had been easy — natural — unforced : Reynolds him- 
 self, great and graceful as he paints, might have painted him 
 as he sat." The quotation, it is true, is not very important ; 
 yet still it serves to shew in how much respect Reynolds was 
 held by men of genius. 
 
 On the mention of Sterne, the following circumstance comes 
 
 to my recollection. Mrs. C , a lady of considerable 
 
 genius, dining one day at Sir Joshua's table, met Lawrence 
 Sterne there, who, as is generally known, was as licentious in 
 his conversation as in his writings, when this lady attacked 
 him with so much keen wit and spirit on his immorality, that 
 he, being already in an ill state of health, is said to have been 
 mortified to such a degree that his death was considerably 
 hastened in consequence of it. 
 
 * Mem. page 57. 
 SUPPLEMENT. F 
 
XXXIV 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 I have had repeated occasion to record Reynolds's senti- 
 ments concerning painting ; and I may add, with respect to 
 the practice of the art, that it was his remark that a picture 
 given by the painter as a present, was seldom considered by 
 the person who received it as of much value ; whilst, on the 
 contrary, those paid for are esteemed, as their value is thereby 
 ascertained. 
 
 That the number of gratuitous portraits by Sir Joshua has 
 not been very great may therefore be accounted for upon this 
 principle, though he did not hesitate occasionally to employ his 
 pencil for his immediate friends : and sometime about the year 
 1762, he displayed a playful yet elegant idea in a present 
 which he made to Dr. Mudge, of the portrait of his eldest son, 
 then about sixteen years of age, who was a clerk in the navy 
 office in London, and of course a considerable distance from 
 his father, who resided at Plymouth. 
 
 This portrait was painted, unknown to the Doctor, and 
 being intended as an agreeable surprize to him, young Mudge 
 was represented as suddenly discovering himself by drawing 
 aside a curtain, and looking out of the canvas, upon the 
 spectator, as an unexpected visitor. The picture is exquisitely 
 painted, and one of Reynolds's finest productions. 
 
 Shortly after this portrait was presented to Dr. Mudge, 
 Reynolds's trip to Plymouth, accompanied by Dr. Johnson, 
 took place : when, during a visit to a neighbouring gentleman, 
 Johnson's singularity of conduct produced considerable alarm in 
 the mind of their host ; who, in order to gratify his guests, 
 had placed before them every delicacy which the house afforded. 
 
 On this occasion, the Doctor, who seldom shewed much 
 discretion in his feeding, devoured so large a quantity of new 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 XXXV 
 
 honey and of clouted cream, which is peculiar to Devonshire, 
 besides drinking large potations of new cyder, that the enter- 
 tainer found himself much embarrassed between his anxious 
 regard for the Doctor's health, ana iiis fear of breaking through 
 the rules of politeness by giving him a hint on the subject. 
 
 The strength of Johnson's constitution, however, saved him 
 from any unpleasant consequences which might have been 
 expected ; but his companion, Reynolds, was more discreet in 
 his appetite, and was much better gratified by a present, for 
 his professional palate, which their host made him of a large 
 jar of very old nut oil, grown fat by length of time, as it had 
 belonged to an ancestor of the family. This prize Reynolds 
 most eagerly took home with him in the carriage, regarding it 
 as deserving of his own personal attention. 
 
 Sir Joshua, as a public character, had, of course, frequent 
 invitations, and was not an unfrequent visitor at public enter- 
 tainments. 
 
 A dinner of singular kind of accommodation was given by 
 Mr. Thrale at his brewery to Sir Joshua, Johnson, Gold- 
 smith, Garrick, Edmund Burke, Barretti, and others, who 
 dined on beef-steaks broiled on the coppers, seated in a newly 
 made brewing vessel, sufficiently capacious to contain the com- 
 pany conveniently. 
 
 I have heard him relate an anecdote of a venison feast, at 
 which were assembled many who much enjoyed the repast. 
 
 On this occasion, Reynolds addressed his conversation to 
 one of the company who sat next to him, but to his great sur- 
 prise could not get a single word in answer, until at length his 
 silent neighbour, turning to him, said, " Mr. Reynolds, 
 whenever you are at a venison feast, I advise you not to speak 
 
 f 2 
 
XXXVI 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 during dinner time, as in endeavouring to answer your ques- 
 tions, I have just swallowed a fine piece of the fat, entire, 
 without tasting its flavour i" 
 
 The epicures of convivial society, or the pedants of the lite- 
 rary, were to him equally subjects of his contemplation, but as 
 in his literary intercourse he often met with men of first rate 
 genius, he naturally was solicitous of their intimacy and 
 friendship. Yet, literary fame was but a secondary object* to 
 himself, which, if he could have acquired it, he must have 
 shared with multitudes innumerable, and that too in a depart- 
 ment where a decided superiority is not granted to any one in 
 particular ; besides, he was too much absorbed in his profes- 
 sional pursuits, in which he aimed at standing alone in his own 
 country, at least without a rival. 
 
 His literary efforts were, therefore, merely an occasional 
 employment, and to him only necessary as a means, in addition 
 to his graphic works, to convey instruction : yet some judges 
 of literature consider the former to be so much beyond what 
 might have been expected from him, that they are very 
 unwilling to allow them to be his own production, as I have 
 already noticed more than once. But if it were possible that 
 those critics could once be made sensible of his great and 
 peculiar merits as a painter, they would surely find themselves 
 obliged to grant him the minor ability of being able to have 
 composed his own discourses. 
 
 If it were necessary to add any thing else to prove that he 
 arrogated not to himself any literary eminence from the title 
 given to that club of which he was one of the founders, it 
 
 * Mem. pnge 70. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 XXXVII 
 
 might be remarked that at that period he had only written his 
 three papers in Johnson's Idler, wherefore all his possible 
 claims to a literary character were very small, and but little 
 known. 
 
 So tar, indeed, was Sir Joshua, from assuming the character 
 of being a man of literature, or a wit,* that I remember on his 
 reading in a morning paper an account of a dinner given by 
 one of his friends to a party of wits, as it was expressed, all of 
 whose names were mentioned, and his own amongst the rest, 
 he exclaimed, " Why have they named me amongst them as a 
 wit ? I never was a wit in my life V 
 
 I have not specifically noticed the admirable whole length 
 picture which Sir Joshua painted of the late Mrs. Abington in 
 the ch r c er of the Comic Muse, and which is now in the 
 possession of the Dorset family ; but I may here observe that 
 Mrs. Abington was not only by far the most eminent performer 
 in comedy of her day, and therefore most proper to be the 
 representative of Thalia, but has perhaps never been surpassed 
 in any time. She was also esteemed at that period as a person 
 of most exquisite taste, and, like a woman of superior abilities, 
 had ever a great ambition to be noticed by men eminent for 
 their genius ; therefore on her benefit nights she always endea- 
 voured to collect as many distinguished perso s, particularly of 
 this Literary Club, as was in her power, in order to add dignity 
 to her audience, taking care to place them in the most conspi- 
 cuous situation in the house. 
 
 Accordingly, Sir Joshua, Dr. Johnson, Dr. Goldsmith, 
 Edmund Burke, and many others of like eminence, rarely 
 
 * Mem. page 72. 
 
XXXVIII SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 failed attending her performances on such evenings, in which 
 her favourite character was that of Estifania, in " Rule a Wife 
 and Have a Wife." 
 
 She, however, much offended Goldsmith, at last, by refusing 
 to take the part which he had written on purpose for her, in 
 his Comedy of " She stoops to Conquer," which character 
 was, of necessity, performed by another actress, to Gold- 
 smith's great mortification, on the first night's representation. 
 
 I have already spoken of the Exhibition of Painting, &c. in 
 the year 1764,* which took place at the great room in Spring 
 Gardens, as it had done in the two preceding years, but now 
 with an addition of many of those exhibitors, who, until this 
 period, had continued annually to exhibit at the original place, 
 the great room belonging to the Society for the Encourage- 
 ment of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, then situated 
 nearly opposite to Beaufort Buildings in the Strand. But that 
 society finding that the artists who had intended to continue 
 with them began to diminish in numbers, and also that their 
 exhibition interfered with the other concerns of the society, they 
 no longer indulged them with the use of their room, and con- 
 sequently the exhibitions at that place terminated in that year. 
 
 This extended and ample exhibition at Spring Gardens had, 
 however, originated from the union of all the artists in the 
 metropolis, as before noticed, in the year 1760, and the suc- 
 cess of their exhibitions having given them sufficient encou- 
 ragement, they now also seriously proposed to incorporate 
 themselves, and accordingly drew up a plan of a charter, at 
 that time, which was granted to them in the following year. 
 
 * Mem. page 73- 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 XXXIX 
 
 In 1764,* the world and the art lost Hogarth, who died on 
 the 26th of October, at the age of sixty-seven. 
 
 At the time, a silly report was propagated by a party, that 
 his death was accelerated by that most severe and cruel poetical 
 epistle, addressed to him by the well known Charles Churchill 
 in consequence of a quarrel that took place from a difference of 
 opinion in politics. In that satire, the poet supposes Hogarth 
 to be in his dotage, and with affected pity laments his fallen 
 state and loss of powers, and concludes with a compliment to 
 Reynolds, saying, 
 
 " The greatest genius to this fate may bow., 
 Reynolds, in time, may be like Hogarth now !" 
 
 I may add, that this illustrious painter had a weakness^ 
 from which, indeed, even the great Shakespeare was not 
 exempt, that of a fondness for a pun ; one specimen of which 
 I have heard related by Sir Joshua. 
 
 A party of painters, of whom Hogarth was one, were looking 
 at a picture painted by Allan Ramsey, but were not able to 
 ascertain who was the artist, being all in doubt, with the 
 exception of Hogarth, who soon set them right, by saying, 
 te Don't you see clearly in the picture the Ram's eye ?" 
 
 Another of his foibles, it is well known, was the excessive 
 high opinion he held of his own abilities ; for when he was 
 engaged in his work of the Marriage d h mode, he said to 
 Reynolds, " I shall very soon be able to gratify the world with 
 such a sight as they have never seen equalled !" 
 
 Hogarth has never been admitted to rank high as a painter, 
 
 Mem. page 80. 
 
XL 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 but certainly so as a moralist ; yet it has, of late, been disco- 
 vered, that his small pictures possess considerable dexterity of 
 execution : as to his large pieces, they appear to be the efforts 
 of imbecility ; he was totally without the practice required for 
 such works. 
 
 The best lesson, indeed, the only one, I believe, by which 
 we can learn to paint small pictures in a grand style, is, first, to 
 gain experience by executing well in the full size of nature, or 
 even larger; and as a proof of this assertion, it may be remarked 
 that there are no instances now to be found in the world of any 
 small pictures possessing the true properties of the grand style, 
 except by those painters who have been accustomed to work 
 on a large scale : for it is only in large pictures that the 
 indispensable necessity exists of marking out with precision and 
 distinctness all the parts ; such precision as is not to be found 
 nor required in the smaller size, as small pictures never proceed 
 much beyond sketches. This is the true reason why those, 
 who are painters of small pictures only, cannot paint in a large 
 size. 
 
 Nothing in art is more distinguishable than the difference 
 between the small pictures by the painter of large works, and 
 the small pictures by those who never did any other kind, or 
 had never practised in works of the full size of nature : and so 
 convinced have I always been of this as a truth, that, from the 
 mortifying reflection that small pictures only are saleable and 
 commodious in this country, I have often thought it advise- 
 able, in respect to worldly advantage, to execute such ; but in 
 that case to follow this severe and laborious method ; that is, 
 first, to finish the subject in the full size of life, and afterwards 
 copy it in small, by which means may be obtained that style 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 XLI 
 
 of breadth and grandeur to be found in the pictures of great 
 masters even when painted in a small size. The original may 
 be then destroyed, if you please, it being an unprofitable 
 article which nobody will purchase. 
 
 But with regard to familiar scenes, Dutch drolls, and comic 
 subjects of every kind, they ought, on no account or pretence 
 whatsoever, to assume a size of any magnitude, as by so doing 
 they give up their interesting quality of a refined toy to 
 become a nuisance ; even in the rich luxuriance of Rubens in 
 his Bacchanalian scenes, although executed with the highest 
 powers of mechanic art, we cannot but view the subject with 
 some degree of displeasure from the impropriety of the size 
 alone in which they are represented, as such subjects are only 
 fitted for canvas of smaller dimensions. 
 
 In the year 1765, I have recorded Barry's testimony in 
 favour of Reynolds's merits ; and in another letter of Barry's 
 to Dr. Sleigh, of the same year, which was written soon after 
 his arrival in London, for the first time, from his native king- 
 dom, Ireland, he says,* 
 
 " To avoid too great a trespass on your pa- 
 tience, I proposed breaking off with taking notice of the great 
 advance of portrait painting since it got into the hands of 
 Mr. Reynolds ; but as you have seen his pictures when you 
 were in England, no one is more capable of discerning the 
 greatness and delicacy of his style, the propriety of his cha- 
 racters, his great force of light and shadow, and taste of co- 
 louring." 
 
 Very soon after the above was written, Barry was enabled 
 
 ■V , . — - i- ■■ 
 
 SUPPLEMENT. 
 
 * Mem. page 80. 
 G 
 
XLII 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OP 
 
 by the munificence of the Burkes to set out on his tour of 
 France and Italy ; and on another occasion still in the same 
 year, he wrote from Paris to Mr. Burke, when, whilst speaking 
 of the paintings at Versailles, he said, " What I have seen since, 
 gives me more and more reason to admire Mr. Reynolds ; you 
 know my sentiments of him already, and the more I know 
 and see of the art, the less likely they are to change." 
 
 As it may afford some idea of the degree in which the arts 
 were, at this period, held by the public in England, I shall 
 here give the following anecdote. 
 
 It was not long after the arrival of Mr. West in this country, 
 from his studies in Italy, that he displayed his powers in 
 historical painting in a most excellent picture ; the subject of 
 which was that of Pylades and Orestes, one of his very best 
 works. 
 
 As any attempt in history was, at that period, an almost 
 unexampled effort, this picture became a matter of much sur- 
 prize : his house was soon filled with visitors from all quarters 
 to see it ; and those among the highest rank, who were not 
 able to come to his house to satisfy their curiosity, desired 
 his permission to have it sent to them, nor did they fail every 
 time it was returned to him, to accompany it with compliments 
 of the highest commendation on its great merits. But the 
 most wonderful part of the story is, that notwithstanding all 
 this vast bustle and commendation bestowed upon this justly 
 admired picture, by which Mr. West's servant gained upwards 
 of thirty pounds for showing it, yet no one mortal ever asked 
 the price of the work, or so much as offered to give him a 
 commission to paint any other subject. Indeed there was 
 one gentleman so highly delighted with the picture, and spoke 
 
to* 
 
XLII 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 by the munificence of the Burkes to set out on his tour ef 
 France and Italy ; and on another occasion still in the same 
 year, he wrote from Paris to Mr. Burke, when, whilst speaking 
 of the paintings at 
 gives me more and 
 know my sentimei 
 and see of the art, ► > 
 
 As it may afford 
 were, at this perioc 
 here give the follow 
 
 It was not long a 
 from his studies i 
 historical painting 
 which was that of 
 works. 
 
 As any attempt 
 unexampled effort, 
 prize : his house w 
 to see it ; and thos 
 able to come to 1 
 his permission to V 
 time it was returne 
 of the highest con 
 most wonderful pa 
 
 this vast bustle ana commendation oestoweu upon tins jusuy 
 admired picture, by which Mr. West's servant gained upwards 
 of thirty pounds for showing it, yet no one mortal ever asked 
 the price of the work, or so much as offered to give him a 
 commission to paint any other subject. Indeed there was 
 oire gentleman so highly delighted with the picture, and spoke 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 XLIII 
 
 of it with such great praise to his father, that he immediately 
 asked him the reason he did not purchase, as he so much 
 admired it, when he answered — " What could I do, if I had it ? 
 you would not surely have me hang up a modern English 
 picture in my house, unless it was a portrait ?" 
 
 In recording a letter of Mr. Burke's, in the year 1766,* part 
 of Sir Joshua's opinion was omitted, after the word "judg- 
 ment," as Burke added — " I do not at all suppose, that his 
 opinion is, that colouring is an idle or useless part of your 
 art ; but, if I apprehend him right, I think his opinion is, 
 that to begin with a wish of excelling in colour, is to begin at 
 the wrong end of the art." 
 
 In a subsequent letter,! he observes, " I thank you for 
 Alexander ; Reynolds sets a high esteem upon it ; he thinks 
 it admirably drawn, and with great spirit. He had it at his 
 house for some time, and returned it in a very fine frame ; 
 and it, at present, makes a capital ornament of our little 
 drawing room, between the two doors." Again, speaking of 
 domestic news, he says — 
 
 <c Here they are (the painters) as you left them ; Reynolds 
 every now and then striking out some wonder." 
 
 In 1766, Sir Joshua had the honor to paint the portrait of 
 the late unfortunate Queen of Denmark, % sister to his present 
 Majesty, immediately before her departure from this country 
 for that kingdom. But the execution of this picture was 
 attended with considerable embarrassment, in respect to making 
 it a pleasant performance ; for this unhappy princess, at the 
 
 * Mem. page 89. t Mem. page 89- t Mem. page 90. 
 
 G 2 
 
XLIV 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 times of her sitting for the portrait, was generally in tears, as 
 if impressed with a presentiment of her future misfortunes. 
 
 I do not know who is the possessor of this picture, or at 
 whose request it was painted ; but there is a mezzotinto print 
 taken from it. 
 
 There is still, in the Royal Palace of Trianon, near Paris, 
 an historical picture by Sir Joshua, which he painted about 
 the period now under revision, the size rather less than that of 
 a whole length canvas ; it represents the subject of Abraham 
 and Isaac. This must have been one of his earliest attempts 
 at historical painting ; but how it has got into its present 
 situation in France I do not know, as it is a very rare thing 
 for English paintings to appear beyond the limits of the realm. 
 It is evident, however, from its preservation, that its pos- 
 sessors have been liberal enough to allow some merit to 
 British art. 
 
 At home, indeed, Sir Joshua's merit and originality were now 
 almost universally acknowledged ;* and, as a further confirma- 
 tion of the truth of Burke's assertion,! recorded in the Memoir, 
 Barry also, in a letter from Rome to Dr. Sleigh in Ireland, 
 dated November, 1767, says — 
 
 " As to Roman artists, notwithstanding what may be said 
 to the contrary, I have no scruple at pronouncing them not 
 worth criticising ; and I shall, with a heart-felt satisfaction, 
 say, that Reynolds, and our people at home, possess, with a 
 very few exceptions, all that exists of sound art in Europe. 
 
 * Mem. page 93. 
 
 -j- Amongst those specimens which Burke alluded to, Sir Joshua had painted 
 one particularly fine, a three quarter size of George Colman, sen., which picture 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 XLV 
 
 In the course of the year 1768/* Goldsmith's comedy, called 
 the Good-Natured Man, came out at Covent Garden theatre. 
 In this play the bailiff scene was thought to be vulgar by the 
 company in the galleries, who violently testified their dis- 
 approbation at dialogue so low ; and when the speech in that 
 scene was uttered, containing the words " That's all my eye," 
 their delicacy was so much hurt, that it was apprehended the 
 comedy (which in other respects was approved of) would have 
 been driven from the stage for ever. However, by expunging 
 the objectionable parts, that composition became a stock 
 play, as it is called, to the theatre, and put five hundred 
 pounds into Goldsmith's pocket. 
 
 It was in this year that the King of Denmark came to 
 England, when every species of ingenuity was set to work in 
 hopes of affording him amusement: the society of artists 
 among the rest exerted their powers, and produced a splendid 
 exhibition of their works at the great room in Spring Gardens, 
 not only in order to gratify his Danish Majesty, but also to 
 certify to him the degree to which the arts had risen in this 
 country. Mr. Reynolds graced it by four of his best, pictures, 
 to wit : — 
 
 is now in the possession of the Earl of Mulgrave; it was painted in the winter 
 season,. and the colours, from the dampness of the atmosphere, would not harden, 
 for which reason Sir Joshua placed the picture very close to the fire, in ordeE 
 to dry it more expeditiously. In the mean time, a sudden gust of wind rushed 
 down the chimney, and unluckily, as was at first considered, sprinkled the picture 
 all over with soot and dust, which it was impossible to brush entirely off, as the 
 colours were still damp as when first laid upon the canvas. This accident has 
 therefore given it a darker hue of colour, but without any diminution of harmony 
 or effect. 
 
 * Mem. page 97. 
 
XLVI 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 A singularly fine portrait, half length, of the famous Lau- 
 rence Sterne, of which there is a very good mezzotinto print. 
 
 A picture, representing James Paine, architect, and James 
 Paine, jun. : from this picture there is also a good print 
 taken. 
 
 A portrait of a young Lady with a Dog. 
 A portrait of a Lady, full length. 
 
 The exhibition was opened to the public on September 30, 
 1768. 
 
 But the most important event recorded in the memoirs of 
 that year was the foundation of the present Royal Academy, 
 the following account is thus related by one of the principal 
 persons concerned in its formation.* 
 
 " The four persons who first planned the institution, were 
 Sir William Chambers, Mr. West, Mr. Cotes, and Mr. Moser, 
 these together carried on the project with such profound 
 secresy, that not one of the incorporated society had the least 
 knowledge or idea of its having been seriously thought of ; in- 
 somuch, that even Mr. Kirby their president, had just at that 
 time assured them, from his chair of office, that his Majesty 
 intended to patronise them, and also to visit their exhibition. 
 In the mean time, the four above-named persons, with the 
 concurrence of some others of their party, proceeded in their 
 plan. They also made out a list of their officers, as well as 
 of those who were to compose the body, containing about 
 thirty names, and had inserted that of Reynolds amongst the 
 rest. This list was to be delivered to the King for his appro- 
 bation and signature : however, Mr. Reynolds was still unwil- 
 
 * Mem. page 108. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 XLVII 
 
 ling to join with either party, which resolution he made known 
 to Sir William Chambers; in consequence of which Mr. 
 Penny was sent to persuade him to join their party, but that 
 proved in vain. Penny then applied to Mr. West, and begged 
 him to intercede with Reynolds, adding, that he was the only 
 person that could influence him to consent. Mr. West accord- 
 ingly called on Mr. Reynolds on the same evening, on which 
 the whole party had a meeting, about thirty in number, at 
 Mr. Wilton's house, expecting the result of Mr. West's nego- 
 ciation, as the King had appointed the following morning to 
 receive their plan, with the nomination of their officers. Mr. 
 West remained upwards of two hours endeavouring to persuade 
 Reynolds, and at last prevailed so far, that he ordered his 
 coach and went with Mr. West to meet the party ; and im- 
 mediately, on his entering the room, they, with one voice, 
 hailed him as their president. He seemed to be very much af- 
 fected by the compliment, and returned them his thanks for the 
 high mark of their approbation ; but declined the honour till 
 such time as he had consulted with his friends Dr. Johnson 
 and Mr. Edmund Burke. This demur greatly disappointed 
 the company, as they were expected to be with the King on 
 the very next morning, by appointment ; but Messrs. West 
 and Cotes avoided going to the King next day, as they could 
 not present him with a complete list of their office re., for the 
 want of a president ; and it was not till a fortnight after that 
 Reynolds gave his consent, although Mr. West had called on 
 him in the meantime to know his determination, when Rey- 
 nolds frankly told him, that he had been informed, from the 
 very best authority, that their scheme would come to nothing, 
 as it was wholly a delusion : and when Mr. West testified his 
 
XLVIII SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 astonishment at such an idea, Mr. Reynolds freely confessed 
 to him, that he had the intelligence from Mr. Kirby himself, 
 who assured him that the King had declared bis intention of 
 giving his countenance and protection to the incorporated 
 Society or Artists, and also to visit their annual exhibition, 
 to which Mr. Kirby added, that, in consequence, he had 
 himself declared the same to the society from the president's 
 chair. 
 
 " It was just about this time that Mr. West had finished his 
 picture of the subject of Regulus, which was painted by 
 the command of the King, and, on the morning appointed by 
 his Majesty, he went with it to the palace in order to show it 
 to him, when the King was graciously pleased to approve of 
 it highly. And at the time, whilst his Majesty was looking 
 at the picture with Mr. West in the room, they were informed 
 by a page, that Mr. Kirby was without waiting for his Ma- 
 jesty's commands. He was immediately sent for, and, on his 
 entrance, the King directed his (Mr. Kirby's) attention to the 
 picture, asking his opinion of it ; Mr. Kirby commended the 
 picture much, and particularly that part which fell under his 
 own province, to wit, the perspective, as in that science 
 Kirby had been the King's instructor. Kirby asked who was 
 the painter of so good a picture, when the King pointed to 
 Mr. West as the artist who had done it. Mr. Kirby then 
 observed, that such a work ought most certainly to be seen 
 by the public at large, and hoped his Majesty would permit 
 it to be in the exhibition of the incorporated Society of Artists. 
 The King answered, that it was his pleasure it should be 
 exhibited, but it most certainly should be at his own Royal 
 Academy exhibition. At these words poor Kirby appeared 
 
/ 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 XLIX 
 
 to be like one thunder-struck, and just ready to drop on the 
 floor ; it was the first confirmation he had received of the re- 
 port which before he had considered as unfounded, and did not 
 believe. It has been said, and supposed by many, that this 
 circumstance so much affected his mind, that he actually died 
 soon after of the extreme mortification it gave him. 
 
 With respect to the title of knighthood,* which accom- 
 panied the election to the president's chair, f I have only to 
 add, that Edmund Burke, like Dr. Johnson, was also much 
 gratified by the honour conferred on Sir Joshua ; and he, at 
 the time, remarked that the sound of the name was so well 
 adapted for a title, that it seemed as if it had been chosen for 
 the purpose. 
 
 That such a measure as the establishment of an academy 
 did not take place before, was accounted for, in some degree, 
 by Sir Joshua himself ;% but another reason may also be 
 assigned, to wit, the total neglect of the arts, both by the 
 nation and its governors, and the consequent poverty of the 
 body of artists, which rendered it impossible until his Majesty 
 lent his assistance. 
 
 It has been already remarked, that the delivery of Sir 
 Joshua in giving his discourses was not so distinct and audible 
 as might be desired, when the matter was so excellent ; and 
 the following circumstance is in some degree a proof. 
 
 * Sir Godfrey Kneller affected, in his drollery, to treat his titles of knight and 
 baronet which he possessed, as beneath him ; saying, that being a man of genius, 
 he was one of God Almighty's nobles. 
 
 f Mem. page 101. J Mem. page 103. 
 
 SUPPLEMENT. H 
 
L 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 On one of the evenings, when Sir Joshua delivered his dis- 
 course to the Royal Academy, the audience, as usual on those 
 occasions, was numerous ; composed not only of artists but 
 
 also of the learned and the great. The Earl of C , who 
 
 was one of the company present, came up to him immediately 
 after he had finished his lecture, saying, " Sir Joshua, you 
 read your discourse in so low a tone that I did not distinguish 
 one word you said." To which the president, with a smile, 
 replied " That was to my advantage." 
 
 I have noticed, in the Memoir, Johnson's approbation of 
 Dr. Fanner's pamphlet, concerning the degree of knowledge 
 Shakespeare might possess of the ancients ; and, in recurrence 
 to that pamphlet, it is true, that whether Shakespeare knew 
 much or nothing of the ancients, may have been decided by 
 Dr. Farmer ; but who can decide on which part would have 
 been the greatest gain ? That of Shakespeare in having known 
 the ancients, or the ancients by having known Shakespeare. 
 
 I have, in the Memoirs,* recorded the extraordinary number 
 of paintings sent by Sir Joshua to the exhibition during its 
 progress : and in this place, as a proof of the advance that the 
 arts had made tn England, even as early as 1769> I shall men- 
 tion that the pictures which chiefly attracted the attention of 
 the connoisseurs at this first season of the Royal Academy 
 exhibition in Pall-Mali, were the departure of Regulus from 
 Rome, and Venus lamenting the Death of Adonis, both by 
 Mr. West ; Hector and Andromache, Venus directing iEneas 
 and Achates, by Mrs. Angelica Kauffman, a lady who was 
 
 * Mein. page 111. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 LI 
 
 but lately arrived in London ; the King and Queen, by Mr 
 Nathaniel Dance ; Lady Molyneux, by Mr. Gainsborough ; a 
 piping Boy, a candle-light piece, by Mr. Hone; an altar-piece 
 of the Annunciation, by Mr. Cipriani; the character of Hebe, 
 the Duke of Glocester, and a Boy playing at Cricket, by Mr. 
 Cotes ; a capital landscape, containing a view of Penton Lynn, 
 in Scotland, by Mr. Barrett ; and the Smith, described by 
 Shakespeare in King John, with open mouth swallowing a 
 Taylor's news, by Mr. Penny : to these we must add, Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds' portraits of the Duchess of Manchester and 
 her Son, as Diana disarming Cupid ; the portrait of Lady 
 Blake, as Juno receiving the cestus from Venus ; and the 
 portrait of Miss Morris, as Hope nursing Love. 
 
 This Miss Morris, I must observe, was a beautiful young 
 lady, who, from the unexpected misfortunes of her family, was 
 reduced to the necessity of seeking some employment for a 
 livelihood ; and being supposed to have requisite talents 
 for the stage, she was advised by her friends to attempt 
 it as a profession. Sir Joshua Reynolds, Dr. Johnson, and 
 many other illustrious persons, who were her particular 
 friends and patrons, attended on the first night of her appear- 
 ance on any stage, when she was to perform the character of 
 Juliet, at Covent-Garden theatre ; but from the exceeding 
 delicacy, of both her mind and body, she was overpowered 
 by her timidity, to such a degree, that she fainted away on 
 her first entrance on the stage, and with much difficulty was 
 prevailed on to go through the part. This very pitiable 
 young lady, shortly after fell into a deep decline, which ended 
 in her death. Her mother was, I think, a native of the West 
 
 h 2 
 
Lri 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Indies, and, on the death of her husband, who had been 
 governor of one of the islands, came over to England, with a 
 son and two daughters, and also a negro slave, who afterwards 
 became the servant of Sir Joshua.* 
 
 In honor of the King's birth-day, which was kept on Monday 
 the fifth of June, and the first which had occurred after the 
 institution of the Royal Academy, the body of Royal Aca- 
 demicians gave an entertainment at their house in Pall-Mail ; 
 and, as a token of their grateful sense of his Majesty's favour 
 to them, a splendid illumination in the evening was displayed, 
 with transparent paintings, and lamps of various colours, occu- 
 pying the whole front of the Royal Academy. In the centre 
 compartment appeared a graceful female figure seated, repre- 
 senting Painting, surrounded with Genii, some of which 
 guided her pencil, whilst others dictated subjects to her : at 
 her feet were various youths employed in the study of the 
 art ; and over her head hovered a celestial form, representing 
 Royal Munificence, attended by several other figures sup- 
 porting a cornucopia filled with honors and rewards. This 
 whole piece was executed by Mr. Cipriani, R. A. 
 
 On the left side of Painting, in another compartment, 
 Sculpture was represented by a female figure, standing upon a 
 rock of marble, holding in one hand an antique bust, and in 
 the other the chisel and mallet. This compartment was exe- 
 cuted by Mr. West, R. A. 
 
 * She was the daughter of Valentine Morris, esq. the original possessor and 
 improver of the romantic, and much admired domain of Piercefield, in Monmouth- 
 shire ; in the adornment of which he had expended much money, and deranged 
 his private fortune. Miss Morris made her first appearance at Covent Garden 
 theatre on November 29, 1768; and died May the first, 17G9. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 LII1 
 
 On the right side of Painting, in a third compartment, was 
 represented, by another female figure, Architecture, in a con- 
 templative attitude, holding in her hand a pair of compasses, 
 being surrounded Avith buildings, and having at her feet the 
 basket and acanthus root, which are said to have given rise to 
 the Corinthian order. This subject was executed by Mr. Na- 
 thaniel Dance, R. A. 
 
 Immediately above the centre compartment was a tablet 
 with this inscription, " Royal Academy of Arts, instituted 
 MDCCLXVIII." And upon the tablet was placed a me- 
 dallion, in which were represented the portraits of their Ma^- 
 jesties, by Mr. Penny, R. A. The medallion was surrounded 
 with festoons of laurel, roses, and myrtle intertwined, and 
 with trophies of arms, and attributes of Venus and the Graces, 
 painted by Mr. Richards, R. A* 
 
 Some parts' of the front were adorned with trophies alluding 
 to the different arts of. design, painted by Mr. Richards and 
 Mr. Wale, R. A. And others were enriched with stars and 
 various figures in lamps of different colours ; the top of the 
 building was terminated with a large Imperial Crown and 
 various pyramids, &c. in lamps of different colours. 
 
 It should be noticed, that exhibitions of transparencies were 
 at the time quite a novelty, so much so indeed that nothing of 
 the kind had hitherto been seen ; in addition to which, this was 
 the joint work of the first painters in the kingdom, and therefore 
 was viewed by the populace with astonishment and delight ; 
 since then, however, from the vast increase of artists in 
 the nation, transparencies are become so common that 
 they are little thought of, and commonly very indifferently 
 executed. 
 
LIV 
 
 SUPPLEMENT 
 
 TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 The instance of Mr. Barron proves the ill effects of talent 
 when dissipated;* for being divided between music and painting, 
 he in the end became master of neither : the brevity of human 
 life affords not time to conquer even one of those sciences, as 
 
 " One science only will one genius fit, 
 So vast is art, so small is human wit; 
 Not only bounded to peculiar arts, 
 But oft in those confined to single parts." 
 
 Whilst speaking of Sir Joshua's pupils, f I shall take the 
 liberty to introduce an anecdote of Mr. Gill's father, as it 
 was related to me by the son Charles. 
 
 Mr. Gill, senior, the noted pastry-cook of Bath, was a 
 stout well-made athletic man, that might intimidate, even by 
 his appearance only ; and as he was travelling once in a post- 
 chaise alone, on the road between London and Bath, it was 
 his chance to espy a highwayman making his way up to the 
 chaise with an intention to rob him. At this, Mr. Gill's heart 
 failed him ; and in order to get the fearful business over as 
 quick as possible, he took out his purse in readiness to deliver 
 it to the highwayman, even before it was demanded ; and 
 when the robber approached near to the chaise-window, Gill 
 not being very deliberate in what he did, and eager to show 
 his willingness to comply with any demand that should be 
 made, thrust his head through the window, not perceiving, in 
 his hurry, that the glass was up, and broke it into shivers. 
 This violent act alarmed the highwayman, who concluded it 
 must be the result of invincible intrepidity, and accordingly 
 he turned about his horse, and immediately rode off, thinking 
 
 * Mem. page 16. f Mem. page llfi. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 LV 
 
 it best not to have any thing to do with such a lion-hearted 
 fellow : but Gill, still apprehending danger, thought the 
 robber would take him by surprize, by firing his pistol at him 
 through the back of the carriage ; and therefore, to be the 
 more secure, he instantly laid himself down at the bottom of 
 the chaise, and thus continued his journey. 
 
 At the time Miss Reynolds * was in Paris, (as she informed 
 me,) she attended a sale of pictures. It was a most capital 
 collection, yet the sale was so private, that the catalogue was 
 not printed, but handed about the room on a written paper. 
 The collection contained many very fine portraits by Titian 
 and Vandyke, besides various other subjects by the most emi- 
 nent masters, particularly one by Rembrandt, historical, with 
 figures the full size of life. On her describing the picture after- 
 wards to Sir Joshua, he said it must, by her account of it, 
 have been worth three thousand pounds at least. All of those 
 she saw sold for next to nothing, for there were but few bidders 
 in the room ; and being without money herself to make pur- 
 chases, she saw with inward torture those precious articles 
 knocked down for the most trifling sums. Indeed, the regret 
 she felt at not being able to possess herself of such bargains 
 had so great an effect on her, that she feared she should have 
 fainted away in the auction-room, Some few she did buy, 
 and at a very small price, which were very fine ; these she 
 sent to England, to her brother Sir Joshua, who, unluckily, 
 not having a sufficient reliance on her judgment in pictures, 
 
 * Mem. page 1 16. 
 
LVI 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 had not previously commissioned her to make any purchases 
 for him. 
 
 Miss Reynolds had accompanied Miss Flint to Paris, as 
 mentioned in the Memoirs. This Miss Flint afterwards be- 
 came Madame de Reverall, having married one of the noblesse 
 of France, and being left a widow, the unfortunate lady, 
 together with her only son, was guillotined by those wretches 
 who possessed the power in the reign of terror. 
 
 Miss Frances Reynolds had long lived in the house of Sir 
 Joshua, her brother, which she superintended in its domestic 
 economy ; but conceived, on some occasion, that she had not 
 been so kindly treated as she deserved. This occasioned a 
 small degree of coolness between them, and it was her inten- 
 tion to compose a letter, in order to explain to him her sup- 
 posed grievances ; but the composition of this letter was an 
 affair of great difficulty 4 she, therefore, consulted with her 
 sage friend Dr. Johnson, who participated with her in her 
 troubles, and voluntarily offered to write a letter himself, 
 which when copied should pass as her own. This accordingly 
 he performed ; but when this letter was produced by him for 
 her approval, she felt herself obliged to reject it, as the whole 
 contents of it were so very unlike her own diction, and so de- 
 cidedly like his, that the intended deception would no more 
 have passed with Sir Joshua, than if Johnson had attired 
 himself in her cap and gown, and endeavoured to impose his 
 identical person upon Sir Joshua as his sister. 
 
 The circumstance stated in page 147 of the Memoirs, oc- 
 curred at a dinner party at Mr. Thrale's ; and as the account 
 given by Mrs. Piozzi deserves some notice, I shall repeat that 
 when Sir Joshua Reynolds mentioned some picture as excellent, 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. LVII 
 
 " It has often grieved me, Sir, (said Dr. Johnson) to see so 
 much mind as the science of painting requires, laid out upon 
 such perishable materials : why do you not oftener make use 
 of copper ? I could wish your superiority, in the art you pro- 
 fess, to be preserved on stuff more durable than canvas." Sir 
 Joshua urged the difficulty of procuring a plate large enough 
 for historical subjects, and was going to raise further obser- 
 vations : — What foppish obstacles are these I" (exclaimed on 
 a sudden Dr. Johnson :) " Here is Thrale has a thousand ton of 
 copper ; you may paint it all round if you will, I suppose ; it 
 will serve him to brew in afterwards : will it not, Sir ?" 
 (speaking to Mr, Thrale, who sat by.) Indeed, Dr. Johnson's 
 affectation of utter scorn of painting was such, that he used to 
 say that he should sit very quietly in a room hung round with 
 the works of the greatest masters, and never feel the slightest 
 disposition to turn them, if their backs were outermost, unless 
 it might be for the sake of telling Sir Joshua that he had 
 turned them. But in his life of Savage, we find him far more 
 cruel and unjust towards another profession, where he expresses 
 his utter scorn of actors likewise, only because he wished to 
 mortify Garrick, whose affluence, acquired in that profession, 
 was the object of his envy. It was the prosperity of Sir Joshua 
 also, as well as Garrick's, that was the crime with Johnson ; 
 notwithstanding the friendship and indulgence with which 
 they both always treated him, yet their worldly superiority 
 created bitterness in his heart ; and as he could not humble or 
 despise the men, he therefore vented his spleen on their profes- 
 sions. Johnson had that weakness likewise which commonly 
 attends men of all professions, of estimating that as the highest 
 of which they know the most ; thus we see how the bad pas- 
 
 SUPPLEMENT. I 
 
LVIII 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 sions may mislead the wisest men. But what most consoled 
 his haughty spirit was to indulge himself in a philosophical 
 contemplation of those who, possessing great abilities, were 
 yet more wretched than himself, and as such had his compas- 
 sion. Savage was his darling, in whose cause no labour nor inge- 
 nuity was to be spared in the attempt to vindicate the conduct 
 of an impostor, chained down to misery by vice ; but Savage 
 he felt was his inferior ; and had Garrick or Sir Joshua been 
 as wretched as Savage, he would readily have done them as 
 much service, and not have pretended to despise their pro- 
 fessions. 
 
 Johnson ought to have reflected, that much of the prosperity 
 of Sir Joshua and Garrick was a natural consequence of their 
 virtues as well as of their abilities ; and of an application in- 
 cessant and untired, even to the injury of their constitutions, 
 in order to become eminent in the departments they had 
 adopted: whilst he was loitering away his time in idleness, and 
 feeding at another man's table, whose profession or trade he 
 held also in utter scorn. No wonder Johnson was not rich! 
 
 That he did not really in his heart despise painting, and 
 was not so ignorant of its uses, may be seen in the accompanying 
 observations * on the department of portrait painting alone. 
 
 Johnson should have been informed also, that the duration 
 of a picture does not depend on the strength or durability of 
 the canvas on which it is painted. The canvas can be renewed 
 as often as it may be found necessary, and the colours will in 
 time become nearly as hard and as durable as enamel. It is 
 by frequent and injudicious cleaning, and not by time, that 
 pictures are destroyed. 
 
 * Mem. page 147. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 LIX 
 
 In addition to what I have said on one branch of the art,* I 
 must not omit that there is another cause that operates much 
 against the dignity of portraiture ; which is, that the work is 
 executed in the presence of witnesses who see the slow progress 
 of the business, and are made not only sensible of the difficulty 
 and care with which the work is done, but also the frequent 
 failure of the artist in his intentions. They can likewise 
 interfere with their advice and directions, and often think 
 themselves as well qualified to judge in the affair as the painter 
 himself : thus they see the work in all its stages of rude imper- 
 fection, all of which tend to degrade both the artist and his 
 art in their estimation. 
 
 But on the contrary, with respect to those efforts of the 
 mind which are never seen by the world till they are brought 
 to their most perfect and finished state, where all the helps 
 and all the failures have been kept in secret, and the work 
 shown in public only when brought to the state of perfection, 
 it then appears like a miracle, as if struck off at once by magic 
 power ; for it has been well observed that poets 
 
 " — — Would not have half the praise they 've got, 
 
 Was it but known what they discreetly blot." 
 
 There is still another cause which has its weight against 
 the importance of portraits, even sometimes when executed by 
 good painters, as in particular instances it has rendered them 
 ridiculous ; this has happened when the artist has submitted 
 to the ignorant interference and dictates of his employer, con- 
 trary to his own better judgment. 
 
 * Mem. page 149. 
 i 2 
 
LX 
 
 SUPPLEMENT 
 
 TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Sir Joshua preserved himself from this disgrace with eminent 
 policy and skill. 
 
 I cannot quit this subject without noticing that it may be 
 observed that every portrait is a compound, the different 
 parts of which are supplied by the painter, assisted by the 
 person who sits to be pourtrayed. The external form and 
 shape of the features are the part required and taken from the 
 individual who is to be represented in the picture : but the 
 character, the degree of mental power, and peculiarity of dis- 
 position, expressed in the portrait, are greatly dependent on 
 the painter, and it is in the representation of those that he 
 unconsciously infuses the prominent qualities of his own indivi- 
 dual nature and turn of mind. Therefore, all portraits of the 
 same person, when executed by different painters, will, from 
 the above cause, differ from each other ; although each of them 
 may resemble the external form of the individual they are 
 intended to represent. 
 
 In portraiture, perhaps, the first thing required is mecha- 
 nical dexterity. 
 
 In history, certainly, the first requisite is great mental 
 powers. 
 
 But to attain superior excellence in either, each is required 
 in each. 
 
 The events recorded in reference to portrait painting, bring 
 to my recollection one or two little anecdotes connected with 
 the art ; in particular, I remember once, in conversation with a 
 friend, oberving that I thought the highest merit and the 
 greatest difficulty in painting portraits were to make them all 
 appear to represent ladies or gentlemen. 
 
 " Undoubtedly," answered my friend, " it must indeed be very 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 LXI 
 
 difficult for the painter to do it, as nature itself seems to have 
 found it no easy business by having so very rarely made them 
 such in appearance." 
 
 With respect to that excellent portrait of our great tragic 
 actress in which Reynolds has written his name on the skirt of 
 the drapery, Mrs. Siddons told me herself that when she first saw 
 the picture in its finished state, she went near to examine the 
 pattern of this which appeared to be a curious classic embroi- 
 dery, such being at that time much in fashion, and she then 
 perceived it contained his name ; when making the remark to 
 Sir Joshua, who was present, he very politely said, " I could 
 not lose the honour this opportunity offered to me for my 
 name going down to posterity on the hem of your garment." 
 
 In contradistinction to the unfounded criticisms on Rey- 
 nolds's style of painting,* already given as extracted from 
 et Letters from England," I trust that Sir Joshua's own 
 remarks on the subject of criticisms on the art will not here 
 be misplaced. 
 
 " When a picture by a gaudy copier, done in a false and 
 bad taste, is shewn to some pretended connoisseurs who may 
 have been used to see good pictures, they will immediately and 
 properly disapprove of it : not because it is in reality in a bad 
 taste, but because it has a different appearance from those 
 pictures which have been shewn to them as the best ; for in 
 other matters it will be found that their taste is utterly vulgar, 
 false, and depraved, whilst he who has formed to himself a 
 really good taste| will be uniform throughout in his judgment. 
 
 * Mem. page 166. 
 
 + What we call Tatte is a kind of extempore judgment ; it is a settled habit of 
 distinguishing, without staying to attend to rules, or ratiocination, and arises from 
 long use and experience. 
 
LXII 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OP 
 
 " Out of the great number of critics in this metropolis, who 
 all pretend to knowledge in pictures, the greater part must be 
 mere pretenders only. Taste does not come by chance : it is 
 a long and laborious task to acquire it ; the mind, like a pen- 
 dulum, must waver this way and that way, before it fixes upon 
 the centre." 
 
 Again, speaking of critics, he says, 
 
 " We find the noblest and boldest passages to have been 
 particularly pitched upon for impertinent criticism. These 
 are the divine boldnesses which in their very nature provoke 
 ignorance and short-sightedness to shew themselves ; and 
 whoever is capable of attaining the greatest height, knows for 
 certain he shall be attacked by such as cannot reach it." 
 
 After this judgment of Sir Joshua's upon critics and criticism 
 on the art, I shall venture to give some opinions of my 
 own on the subject, particularly as they are not in opposition 
 to those recorded. 
 
 It has often struck me as matter of wonder why we should 
 so frequently meet with persons who are good judges of litera- 
 ture, yet so seldom with those who are competent judges of 
 the graphic arts ; and the only way I know to account for this 
 seeming paradox is, to conclude that the language of the art, 
 as it has been termed, is, to the bulk of the world, obscure, or 
 at least far from being familiar to them : yet all conceive them- 
 selves qualified to be critics on paintings. As to those nume- 
 rous connoisseurs in art, whose essays we commonly meet with 
 in the inferior publications, such as daily newspapers, &c. &c. 
 it is both curious and diverting to observe the very odd 
 remarks which they make on the arts, from not having suffi- 
 ciently studied them. This incompetency to the undertaking 
 gives such an air of childish innocence to their prattle, that, 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. LX1II 
 
 whilst it has no bad motive, no disguised malice at the bottom, 
 it seems a pity to check it ; and the severest punishment I 
 would inflict upon them is, that they should be enabled to 
 view their own criticisms with an artist's conception, which 
 would be the most effectual means of putting a stop to such 
 inanity ; for many of those whose criticisms on pictures make 
 them appear to be so very silly in the eyes of artists, are fre- 
 quently men of very good understanding, and show much 
 judgment in many other matters which come within the sphere 
 of their study, and they would feel severely the contemptible 
 figure they make in uttering opinions frequently so weak, that 
 boys in the schools of art would scorn, and laugh at them : 
 and although these critics conceal their names, and are them- 
 selves hid in obscurity, yet, as no one can bear to appear con- 
 temptible in his own eyes, surely a man can find no pleasure 
 in its being proved to him that he has played the fool. This 
 description alludes to the attempts at criticism by the inno- 
 cent and ignorant ; but we have to lament, that but too often 
 ephemeral criticism is made the instrument of some base and 
 partial purpose of interest. At times it proceeds from some 
 ill-starred wight, who pines with envy at the sight of those 
 powers which he cannot attain. He fain would blast that 
 fruit which he cannot gather. Every human work, besides 
 its excellencies, does most commonly contain a large propor- 
 tion of defects ; and to point out those defects is too often the 
 sole gratification which feeds the vanity of the superficially 
 learned, who imagine that they are exalted in the same pro- 
 portion as they contribute to the degradation of every pre- 
 tender to talents. It also, in some degree, soothes the feelings 
 of the unsuccessful and malignant, by persuading them that 
 
LXIV 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 they have still the power of making their more fortunate com- 
 petitors, at least for a time, as uncomfortable as themselves . 
 they likewise feel at the moment as if they were really superior 
 to the work over which they seem to triumph, which acts as 
 a cordial to their self-opinion, as an opiate to tortured pride. 
 But it should he recollected that the critic, in reviewing the 
 object of his criticism, has the advantage of the investor's 
 experience to assist him, and, thus prepared, finds it not dif- 
 ficult to point out how the work might have been done better; 
 when, perhaps, from his own resources alone, he might not 
 have been able to conceive at first how the work could have 
 been done at all. 
 
 Criticism, when poured out by the weak or vulgar, has in 
 some cases very bad effects. It has a tendency to intimidate 
 the modest and inexperienced spirit, who dreads the clamour 
 of presumptuous ignorance usurping an office, and peremp- 
 torily pretending to set rules for those powers which it cannot 
 comprehend ; and it overawes that spirit of exertion which 
 cannot operate with full effect, unless it be perfectly free from 
 fear of controul. To ' snatch a grace beyond the rules of art' 
 is only to be hoped for by those who defy the puny critic and 
 his censures — the steed which attempts a leap beyond his 
 usual course should fear no check from the rein, as it would 
 inevitably cause both the horse and his rider to fall. 
 
 Thus we see that criticism has the fatal tendency to paralize 
 those laudable and energetic efforts to produce works, without 
 which criticism could not exist : criticism is the child that 
 devours its own parent ! 
 
 The only good that possibly can accrue from the observa- 
 tions of those obtrusive minor critics on works of living artists 
 
/-AH 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 (for as to the dead, there is always justice administered to 
 those against whom no evil passions operate,) is, that some- 
 times, by chance, they may throw out a useful hint ; and also, 
 that the noise they make serves in the place of an advertise- 
 ment. But if what they have to say is not truth, the little 
 hurt falls only on themselves ; yet, if truth is on their side, 
 they have an indubitable right to speak it. Notwithstanding, 
 however, that at times their ignorance, or their pertness, is 
 displeasing, they still should be viewed with complacency. In 
 these observations, indeed, it is but fair to state, that I al- 
 lude solely to those who, being unable to make a figure equal 
 to their ambition in a higher department, and yet unwilling 
 to be set wholly aside, consent to practise the virtue of 
 humility, patiently join the retinue of those who are more for- 
 tunate than themselves, and are to be considered as proper ap- 
 pendages to eminence, or in the capacity of train-bearers : and 
 although the office they appear in is to hold up to public view 
 that superfluous part of the garment of merit which is nearest 
 to the dust, yet it still adds dignity even to genius : whilst 
 real criticism, like a tender parent, improves as it admonishes ; 
 the justice of its award softening even the severity of its censure. 
 
 As a relief after the dry subject of criticism, any anecdotes 
 of Reynolds's paintings must be acceptable ; in addition, there- 
 fore, to the circumstances connected with the " Ugolino," * 
 I may here record that the picture of the " Children in the 
 Wood" by Sir Joshua may be said also to have been produced 
 by an accident, at least as an historical composition : for when 
 
 SUPPLEMENT. 
 
 * Mem. page 179- 
 
LXVI 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the Beggar Infant, who was sitting to him for some other pic- 
 ture, during the sitting fell asleep, Reynolds was so pleased 
 with the innocence of the object, that he would not disturb its 
 repose to go on with the picture on which he was engaged, but 
 took up a fresh canvas, and quickly painted the child's head 
 as it lay before it moved ; and as the infant altered its po- 
 sition, still in sleep, he sketched another view of its head on 
 the same canvas. He afterwards finished a back ground of a 
 woody scenery, and by adding the robin red-breast converted 
 it into the subject of the Children in the Wood.* 
 
 It may not be undeserving of notice, that there is a dupli- 
 cate of the Infant Jupiter possessed by the Duke of Rutland ; 
 as I well remember having prepared a copy for Sir Joshua in 
 a ground-work on black and white. 
 
 Since the publication of the Memoirs, I have recollected 
 many anecdotes of Goldsmith, during his intercourse with 
 Reynolds, connected with which I may relate, that when the 
 play of " She stoops to Conquer," was in preparation at the 
 theatre, Miss Reynolds, with a few other ladies, her friends, 
 accompanied by Dr. Goldsmith, went one morning to the 
 house to attend its rehearsal. Mr. Shuter afterwards performed 
 a principal character in this play ; in which he displayed infi- 
 nite spirit ; yet when he appeared before this small and select 
 audience, he betrayed the strongest marks of shyness, even to 
 
 * The mother of the beggar infant at one time had nearly given a finale to Sir 
 Joshua's studies from this subject, whilst he was employed in painting from it, by 
 carelessly letting the child fall over her arm on the floor, which, as she sat at the 
 lime in a chair raised some height above it, made the fall very considerable; but, 
 by great good fortune, the child received no material injury from the accident. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. LXVII 
 
 bashfulness : which proves that the smallest novelty in situa- 
 tion, or deviation from accustomed habits, is sufficient to dis- 
 compose the veteran professor ; for when Shuter appeared 
 before a crowded house, he always felt himself perfectly easy.* 
 
 It was about this period that Goldsmith, ever jealous of 
 being thought insignificant, and on this occasion much of- 
 fended with Garrick, who he conceived had treated him with 
 great hauteur. In relating the matter to Sir Joshua, he said he 
 could not suffer such airs of superiority from one who was 
 only a poor player ; but Sir Joshua replied, " No, no, don't 
 say that ; he is no poor player surely." 
 
 Speaking to Sir Joshua concerning Goldsmith, I asked his 
 opinion of him as a poet, and if he did not consider him as 
 very excellent : his answer was, that Goldsmith, as a poet, 
 he believed, was about the degree of Addison. 
 
 Goldsmith, it is well known, was of an imprudent and care- 
 less disposition, insomuch, that I have heard Sir Joshua remark 
 of him, in times of his greatest distress, he was often obliged 
 to supplicate a friend for the loan of ten pounds for his imme- 
 diate relief, yet, if by accident a distressed petitioner told 
 him a piteous tale, nay if a subscription for any folly was 
 
 * I remember another similar instance, which a late illustrious General told me 
 of himself ; that being at Dover wilh his regiment, the King, Queen, and many 
 others of the Royal Family, together with Mr. Pitt, and many ministers of state 
 as well as courtiers, came to see the review, which was to take place that morning, 
 he commanding as the General : when, being in the presence of personages so 
 conspicuously high, either for rank or talents, he confessed that he felt, while 
 conversing with them, an aukward shyness ; but immediately on mounting his 
 horse, and manoeuvring at the head of his troops, he became as perfectly unem- 
 barrassed as if he was at home ; and could not help laughing to himself, when he 
 saw what droll figures some of the courtiers made when mounted on chargeid. 
 
 K 2 
 
LXVIII 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OP 
 
 proposed to him, he, without any thought of his own poverty, 
 would, with an air of generosity, freely bestow on the person, 
 who solicited for it, the very loan he had himself but just 
 before obtained. 
 
 On a subject so important as the improvement of our na- 
 tional buildings,* there can be nothing superfluous in giving 
 the following account of the origin of a scheme for decorating 
 the cathedral of St. Paul's with paintings by living artists, 
 which was thus related to me as authentic. 
 
 " Dr. Newton, late bishop of Bristol, and dean of St. Paul's, 
 was an enthusiastic admirer and lover of the arts, and also a 
 great friend to artists. One day, Sir Joshua Reynolds and 
 Mr. West were dining with him at his house, and, in the 
 course of conversation, one of them observed how great an 
 ornament it would be to that cathedral if it were to be furnished 
 with appropriate paintings to fill up those large vacant com- 
 partments and pannels, and which the architect, Sir Christo- 
 pher Wren himself had purposed to have added to finish the 
 building. On this, Mr. West generously offered to give a 
 picture of his own painting, and Sir Joshua cheerfully agreed 
 to follow his example, in order to make a beginning. Mr. 
 West proposed to paint the subject of Moses with the Laws ; 
 and Sir Joshua offered a Nativity. The bishop was enrap- 
 tured with the plan ; and he, being dean of St. Paul's, con- 
 cluded that his influence was fully sufficient to produce a 
 completion of the business. 
 
 " The guardians of the cathedral are the King, the arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, the bishop of London, and the dean and 
 
 * Meiu. p.-ige 193. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. * LXIX 
 
 chapter of St. Paul's, and the lord-mayor of London, for the 
 time being. 
 
 " The good Dr. Newton first went to the King, whose 
 ready and hearty consent was immediately given, as were 
 likewise those of the archbishop, and also of the lord mayor ; 
 and the chapter, with the dean at their head, of course, had 
 no objection. But unluckily, the very person who pos- 
 sessed most power in that church, was the last consulted on 
 the business ; that was Dr. Terrick, then bishop of London : 
 and when Dr. Newton paid him a visit to inform him of 
 the hopeful progress he had made and to receive his con- 
 sent, the old bishop patiently heard him to the end of his 
 speech, when, assuming a very grave countenance, he replied, 
 "My good lord bishop of Bristol, I have already been dis- 
 tantly and imperfectly informed of such an affair having been 
 in contemplation ; but as the sole power at last remains 
 with myself, I therefore inform your lordship, that, whilst I 
 live and have the power, I will never suffer the doors of the 
 metropolitan church to be opened for the introduction of 
 popery into it."* 
 
 * It is but justice to the memory of the learned prelate to give the following, 
 which is bishop Newton's own account of the design of ornamenting St. Paul's 
 cathedral, of which church he was dean and a great friend to the project; but it 
 is observable, that the bishop says nothing of the society for the encouragement 
 of arts.- 
 
 " As he, the bishop, was known to be such a lover of their art, the Royal 
 Academy of painters, in 1773, made an application to him by their worthy presi- 
 dent, Sir Joshua Reynolds, representing, that the art of painting, notwithstanding 
 the present encouragement given to it in England, would never grow up to maturity 
 and perfection, unless it could be introduced into churches as in foreign countries, 
 individuals being, for the most part, fonder of their own portraits, and those of thei/ 
 
LXX 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 «' Dr. Newton was much mortified at the refusal, and reflected 
 upon himself as having destroyed the project by his indiscreet 
 
 families, than of any historical pieces: that, to make a beginning, the royal 
 academicians offered their services to the dean and chapter to decorate St. Pant's 
 with Scripture histories, and six of their members, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr. West, 
 Angelica Kauffman, Cipriani, Mr. Barry, and, I think, Mr. Dance had been chosen 
 to paint each a picture for this purpose ; that these pictures should be seen and 
 examined and approved by the academy before they were offered to the dean and 
 chapter, and the dean and chapter might then give directions for alterations and 
 amendments, and receive or refuse them as they thought them worthy or unworthy 
 of the places for which they were designed: none should be put up but such as 
 were entirely approved, and they should all be put up at the charge of the academy, 
 without any expense to the members of the church. St. Paul's had all along 
 wanted some such ornaments, for rich and beautiful as it is without, it is too plain 
 and unadorned within. 
 
 " Sir James Thornhill had painted the history of St. Paul in the cupola, the 
 worst part of the church that could have been painted, for the pictures there are 
 most exposed to the changes of the weather, suffer greatly from damp and heat, 
 and, let what will be done to prevent it, it is to be feared, must, in no very long 
 time, all decay and perish. It was happy, therefore, that Sir James's eight original 
 sketches and designs, which were higher finished than usual, in order to be carried 
 and shewn to Queen Anne, were purchased of his family, at the recommendation 
 of the dean, in the year 1779, and are hung up in the great room at the Chapter 
 House. Besides the exposition of these pictures to the weather, in the cupola, 
 they are at such a height, that they cannot conveniently be seen from any part, 
 and add little to the beauty and ornament of the church. They had better have 
 been placed below, for below they would have been seen, and there are compart- 
 ments which were originally designed for bas-reliefs, or such like decorations, but 
 the parliament, as it is said, having taken part of the fabric money, and applied it 
 to King William's wars, Sir Christopher Wren complained that his wings were 
 dipt, and the church was deprived of its ornaments. Here, then, a fair oppor- 
 tunity was offered for retrieving the loss and supplying former defect. It was 
 certainly a most generous and noble offer on the part of the academicians, and the 
 public ought to think themselves greatly obliged to them for it. The dean and 
 chapter were all equally pleased with it ; and the dean, in the fullness of his heart, 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 LXXI 
 
 management, in not having made his first application to the 
 offended bishop of London." 
 
 went to communicate it to the great, patron of arts, and readily obtained his royal 
 consent and approbation. But the trustees of the fabric, the archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, and the bishop of London, were also to be consulted, and they disapproved 
 of the measure. Bishop Terrick, both as trustee of the fabric, and as bishop of 
 the diocese, strenuously opposed it; whether he took it amiss, that the proposal 
 was not first made to him, and by him the intelligence conveyed to his Majesty ; 
 or whether he was really afraid, as he said, that it would occasion a great noise arid 
 clamour against it, as an artful introduction of popery. Whatever were his reasons, 
 it must be acknowledged that some other serious persons disapproved the setting 
 up of pictures in churches. It was in truth not an object of that concern, as to 
 run the risk of a general outcry and clamour against it ; but the general opinion 
 plainly appeared to be on the contrary side, much in favour of the scheme; and, 
 whatever might have been the case in the days of our first reformers, there was 
 surely no danger now of pictures seducing our people into popery and idolatry; 
 they would only make scripture history better known and remembered. Many 
 other churches and chapels have adopted, and are adopting, this measure, as Ro- 
 chester, Winchester, Salisbury, St. Stephen's Walbrook, and several colleges in the 
 universities. The House of Commons have given a rich painted window to their 
 church of St. Margaret's, Westminster. Bishop Terrick himself approved, if not 
 contributed to the setting up of a picture of the Annunciation, by Cipriani, in thechapel 
 of his own college of Clare-Hall, at Cambridge : and why should such ornaments be 
 denied to the capital church in the kingdom ? The Dean, rather than the scheme 
 should be totally laid aside, proposed to make a trial and experiment how the thing 
 would bear. Most churches and chapels, he observed, have something of ornament 
 and decoration about the communion table. You sometimes see, even in the 
 country, 
 
 Moses and Aaron upon a church wall, 
 Holding up the Commandments for fear they should fall. 
 But St. Paul's will not well admit of any ornament over the communion table, 
 because it would darken the windows there, which give the principal light to the 
 choir. But near to the communion table arc two doors, one opening into the 
 north and the other into the south aisle ; and over these two doors are proper com- 
 partments for two pictures, It was therefore proposed by the Dean, that Sir Joshua 
 
LXXII 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE 
 
 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 I have already recorded much criticism, and some censure,* 
 respecting the emblematical portrait of Beattie, but it 
 
 * Mem. page 204. 
 
 Reynolds and Mr. West should paint these two pictures ; Mr. West's design 
 being the giving of the two tables to Moses from the cloud of glory, the people all 
 standing beneath ; and Sir Joshua's design being the infant Jesus lying in the 
 manger, with the shepherds surrounding, and the light flowing all from the Child, 
 as in the famous Notte of Corregio : here was the beginning both of the Law and 
 of the Gospel ; here was nothing to encourage superstition or idolatry ; nothing that 
 could possibly give any one any jnst offence. Let the trial only be made by these 
 pictures ; and if they occasion any noise and clamour, then let an end be put to 
 the whole affair ; if they are well received, and approved and applauded by the 
 public, then let the other artists proceed. But reasonable as this proposition was gene- 
 rally thought to be, it was over-ruled by the same authority as the former ; and whether 
 the merits or demerits are greater of those who favoured the design, or of those who 
 defeated it, the present age and impartial posterity must judge. Sir Joshua has 
 wrought up his design into a noble picture; Mr. West exhibited his drawing at 
 one of the public exhibitions of the Royal Academy. Mr. Barry has published an 
 etching of his design, the fall of the angels, both excellent, both masterly perform- 
 ances; and it is much to be wished that the other artists would follow their 
 example." 
 
 "Sometime before this, another opportunity was unfortunately lost of deco- 
 rating St. Paul's. When Bishop Newton was only one of the residentiaries, a 
 statuary of some note came to him in his summer month of residence, desiring leave 
 to set up a monument in St. Paul's for one who had formerly been a Lord Mayor 
 and Representative of the city of London. The Dean and his other brethren of the 
 chapter being in the country, he went to consult with Archbishop Seeker upon the 
 subject; and Archbishop Seeker was so far from making any objection, that he 
 much approved the design of monuments, saying what advantages foreign churches 
 have over ours, and that St. Paul's was too naked and bare, for want of monuments, 
 which would be a proper ornament, and give a venerable air to the church, prov ided 
 care was taken that there be nothing improper in their structure, or in the inscrip- 
 tions upon them. But when the thing was proposed fb Bishop Osbaldeston, he was 
 violent against it : Sir Christopher Wren had designed no such things; there had 
 been no monuments in all the time before he was Bishop, and in his time there 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 LXXIII 
 
 would be the height of injustice to accuse Dr. Beattie of the 
 least blame in respect to the composition of this picture ; as 
 the head alone was the only part of it that was finished when 
 the Doctor left London, and returned to Scotland : nor was he 
 consulted by, or had the least knowledge of Sir Joshua's in- 
 tention till the picture was completely finished ; and as it was 
 the design of Reynolds to make a present of this picture to 
 the Doctor, there was the more propriety in not consulting him 
 upon it. for he thus purposed to pay him a high and elegant 
 
 should be none. He was desired to look upon the print which hung over his head 
 of the inner section of St. Paul's, wherein he would see that Sir Christopher Wren 
 had designed monuments, especially in the recesses under the windows; but he was 
 not to be convinced ; churches, he said, were better without monuments than with 
 them. Since the Bishop was so peremptory, it was judged proper not to push the 
 matter any farther; especially since the person for whom the monument was desired 
 was not one of the most illustrious characters, nor deserving to be the first instance 
 of the kind. Few, I conceive, will agree in opinion with Bishop Osbaldeston, that 
 churches are better without monuments than with them. The sense of mankind 
 has been contrary in all ages and in all countries ; and it is really a wonder that no 
 more applications have been made for erecting monuments in St. Paul's. West- 
 minster Abbey is too full of them. It may be said to be incrusted with monuments, 
 and in some places they are ridiculously piled two stories high over one another. 
 At St. Paul's there is ample room, and spaces designed for monuments : and what a 
 magnificent and glorious church would it be with a proper intermixture of pictures 
 and statues, and what an ornament and honour to the metropolis and to the king- 
 dom ! The great difficulty is to find a suitable person to begin with, of eminence 
 and dignity sufficient to set an example to the rest. Several gentlemen were 
 desirous of opening a public subscription for a monument to Mr. Pope in St. Paul's, 
 as had been done to Shakespeare in Westminster Abbey : but Mr. Pope's religion 
 was some objection to this scheme. It was a better thought of erecting the first 
 monument to Bishop Sherlock, whose father had been Dean, and himself Bishop 
 of London so many years." — Bishop Newton's Life and Anecdotes, prefixed to his 
 Works, 1782, 4to. I. pp. 105— 109- 
 
 SUPPLEMENT. L 
 
JLXXIV 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 compliment on his book on the Immutability of Truth. 
 Neither could the Doctor, afterwards, when he saw it, with any 
 kind of decorum, make objections to this valuable present, 
 given to him as a special token of friendship: and, indeed, 
 after all, it must be clearly perceived, that the whole of the 
 clamour raised about this portrait was the sole produce of envy 
 and ignorance. 
 
 The hint for the composition of this memorable picture (as 
 I have been informed) Sir Joshua received from a fine picture 
 by Tintoretto, of a subject somewhat similar which is in the 
 King's library at Buckingham House. As to the portrait of 
 Voltaire, that Sir Joshua certainly intended to represent in 
 the group, fori well remember, at the time, his having a medal 
 of him, from which he copied the likeness. But as to Hume, 
 I am as certain that he never intended to place him in the 
 picture, nor is there any such resemblance, or the least reason 
 to suppose that the painter thought of him at the time. We 
 see in the above instance how easily envy can swell a mole-hill 
 to a mountain. 
 
 To the record of poor Goldsmith's death,* I may add one or 
 two anecdotes not generally known. 
 
 I have been informed by the lady who requested a lock of 
 his hair before interment, that he once read to her several 
 chapters of a novel in manuscript which he had in contempla- 
 tion ; but which he did not live to finish, now irrecoverably 
 lost. The same person has also some of his poetry, never yet 
 published. 
 
 I have already mentioned Goldsmith's habit of playfulness in 
 
 * Mem. page 210. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 LXXV 
 
 company, yet it is a fact that a certain nobleman, an intimate 
 friend of Reynolds, had strangely conceived in his mind 
 such a formidable idea of all those persons who had gained 
 great fame as literary characters, that I have heard Sir Joshua 
 say he verily believed he could no more have prevailed upon 
 this noble person to dine at the same table with Johnson and 
 Goldsmith than with two tygers. 
 
 Probably Goldsmith was not much mortified at sometimes 
 appearing little in the eyes of those who he knew were his 
 inferiors, as he might console himself that he was able to make 
 them feel his superiority whenever he pleased. 
 
 Goldsmith, indeed, may serve as an instance to shew how 
 capriciously nature deals out her gifts to mankind ; thus, fre- 
 quently bestowing on the same individual these qualities 
 which the wisest must admire, accompanied by those which the 
 weakest may despise. 
 
 Another instance of the naivete of genius I remember, but 
 which is much more in character than the antics practised by 
 Goldsmith. 
 
 Garrick, one day, dining with a large company, soon after 
 dinner left the room, and it was supposed had left the house ; 
 but one of the party, on going into the area to seek him, 
 found Mr. Garrick, who had been there some time, fully occu- 
 pied in amusing a negro boy who was a servant in the family, 
 by mimicking the manner and noise of a turkey cock, which 
 diverted the boy to such a degree that he was convulsed with 
 laughter, and only able now and then to utter c< Oh, Masser 
 Garrick ! You will kill me, Masser Garrick !" 
 
 Soon after an installation of the Knights of the Garter took 
 place at Windsor Castle, a ceremony which had not been seen 
 
 l 2 
 
LXXVI 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 before for many years ; and the King had expressed a desire 
 that Sir Joshua might be present, which of course he readily 
 complied with, but in some degree to his cost, for the show being 
 a rare one, the multitude of persons assembled was immense, 
 insomuch that in the crowd Sir Joshua lost his hat, and also a 
 gold snuff-box. 
 
 As most of the efforts of Reynolds's pencil deserve notice, I 
 must not omit* that the Dilletanti room is still further indebted 
 to his abilities. 
 
 Sir Joshua has enriched the room of this society with many 
 other portraits of its members, particularly two pictures, each 
 of which contains a group of figures, something in the manner 
 of Paul Veronese. 
 
 The first has the portraits of the Duke of Leeds, Lord 
 Dundas, Constantine John Lord Mulgrave, Lord Seaforth, 
 the Honourable C. Greville, Charles Crowle, Esq., and the 
 Right Honourable Sir Joseph Banks, Rart., and K. B. 
 
 The other picture represents the persons of Sir William 
 Hamilton, Sir Watkin Williams Wynne, Bart., Richard 
 Thompson, Esq., Sir John Taylor, Payn Galway, Esq., 
 John Smith, Esq., and Spencer Stanhope, Esq. 
 
 Of another production of our artist, I may relate as an 
 
 anecdote,! that I recollect Mr. S , on his return from Italy, 
 
 calling on Sir Joshua to inform him that he had seen his por- 
 traitj in the gallery at Florence, and that when the Florentines 
 
 * Mem. page 217- f Mem. page 220. 
 
 J Portraits of Sir Joshua are almost innumerable, a great number by his own 
 hand, but there is only one marble bust of him, which was executed by Cirtichi, an 
 Italian sculptor. 
 
 This Cirachi was a young man of some ability, but of a turbulent spirit, and 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 LXXVII 
 
 expressed to him their high admiration of the excellence of 
 this picture, he told them it was impossible for them to form 
 any judgment of the painter's ample abilities from seeing that 
 single head : but could they only see some of his more exten- 
 sive compositions, their admiration would then be infinitely 
 greater, as this portrait gave a very inadequate idea of the 
 variety of his powers. There were, at the time, three young 
 painters before this picture, employed in copying it. 
 
 The picture of a little strawberry girl, with a kind of tur- 
 ban on her head, was painted about this time,* and he consi- 
 dered it as one of his best works ; observing, that no man 
 ever could produce more than about half a dozen really original 
 works in his life, " and that picture/' he added, " is one of 
 mine." The picture was exhibited and repeated by him 
 several times ; not so much for the sake of profit, as for that 
 of improvement : for he always advised, as a good mode of 
 study, that a painter should have two pictures in hand of 
 precisely the same subject and design, and should work on 
 them alternately ; by which means, if chance produced a 
 lucky hit, as it often does, then, instead of working on upon 
 the same piece, and perhaps by that means destroy that 
 beauty which chance had given, he should go to the other 
 and improve upon that. Then return again to the first pic- 
 ture, which he might work upon without any fear of oblitera- 
 ting the excellence which chance had given it, having tran- 
 
 had been driven from every country which he had visited. When he left England, 
 he went to France, where he soon got himself guillotined for being concerned in a 
 conspiracy formed against the life of Buonaparte, by means of a horrid contrivance 
 which the French named the Infernal Machine. 
 * 1774. 
 
LXXVIII SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 sposed it to the other. Thus his desire of excellence enabled 
 him to combat with every sort of difficulty or labour. I have 
 heard him say, that while he was engaged in painting a picture, 
 he never knew when to quit it, or leave off : and it seemed to 
 him as if he could be content to work upon it the whole re- 
 mainder of his life, encouraged by the hope of improving it: 
 but that when it was once gone from him, and out of his house, 
 he as earnestly hoped he should never see it again. 
 
 It was in this year, also, that Sir Joshua painted an admir- 
 able portrait of Mrs. Hartley, in the character of a gipsey with 
 an infant at her back, and began another of her in the charac- 
 ter of Jane Shore. She was much admired when she appeared 
 on the stage ; but it was more on account of the extraordinary 
 beauty of her person, than for her professional talents as an 
 actress ; her features were of an excellent form, and her com- 
 plexion very fair and clear ; but, as she herself once observed 
 to Sir Joshua, to use her own innocent expression, " her face 
 was as freckled as a toad's belly." 
 
 I well recollect, likewise, an excellent portrait which he 
 painted about this period, of a gentleman who had acquired 
 in India more money than intellect. From this picture a 
 print was to be taken. The Nabob went into the country, 
 whence he wrote to Sir Joshua on the subject. In this letter 
 he says, " my friends tell me of the Titian tint and the Guido 
 air, of course you will add them ; but I leave it to your judg- 
 ment whether it should be done before or after the print is 
 taken." This letter I saw and read. 
 
 Numberless little anecdotes of this kind might be recorded ; 
 I shall venture to mention a trifling one of the late Duchess of 
 Cumberland, who sat to him about this time for her portrait, 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 LXXIX 
 
 full length ; and I remember his being much diverted by her 
 affected condescension, when she said " I come to your house 
 to sit for my portrait, because I thought it would be much 
 more convenient to you, as you would have all your materials 
 about you and at hand." He made her no answer, nor did 
 he trouble himself to inform her, that there was no other way 
 by which she could have had her portrait painted by him : 
 indeed, the great Duke of Cumberland, and many others of the 
 royal family, had not conceived it to be beneath their dignity 
 to come to his house for the same purpose ; and formerly, 
 as he observed, even the king himself, Charles the Second, 
 always went to the houses of Lely and Kneller, whenever he 
 sat for his portrait. However, great allowance must be made 
 for those who are suddenly raised high beyond their expecta- 
 tion, as it not unfrequently has made even the wisest giddy. 
 
 Some portion of vanity indeed, ought to be pardoned in 
 every one ; as the happiness of life so much depends upon it : 
 for how could many of us endure our existence with any de- 
 gree of patience if we saw ourselves as others see us ? Vanity 
 has made many a happy mortal of such as, without it, might 
 have been driven to the crime of suicide. But kind, indulgent 
 Nature, in the gift of this article is ever abundant, always 
 bestowing it most amply where there is most need of its sup- 
 port ; for which we ought to be infinitely thankful, as it fills 
 up all our mental emptiness with delight, and the mind is 
 consoled under all its insufficiencies, or even corporeal ins per- 
 fections, which, by its assistance, oftentimes assume the form 
 of beauty to our own apprehension. Self-opinion is Nature's 
 stratagem to keep all the world quiet. 
 
 The admiration and fame that followed Reynolds, both as 
 a man and an artist, could not fail to excite envy ; an instance 
 
LXXX SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of which has been recorded ;* in addition I may observe, that 
 Mr. Hone did not seem to recollect, that, whenever Sir Joshua 
 availed himself of any of the merits of his predecessors in art, 
 it was done in a manner that all must approve of, and such as 
 the following circumstance may serve to explain, by showing, 
 that he generally had in view the adding to the first invention, 
 much more than he borrowed from it. 
 
 Sir Joshua had in his collection a most excellent little 
 sketch or study, by Rembrant, of a Susanna going down 
 the steps of the bath ; this picture possessed, in the highest 
 degree, the charms of colour, light and shade, and an exquisite 
 expression, in the female figure, of silent, timid apprehension, 
 in the attitude of listening ; but, at the same time, miserably 
 deficient in every requisite towards beauty, grace, elevation of 
 character, or elegance of form. I have heard Sir Joshua la- 
 ment to see the defects of this picture, which possessed so many 
 perfections, and I often heard him say, he would copy it in 
 its excellencies, and attempt to make the figure of Susanna, 
 as much, as was in his power, what it ought to have been in 
 the original — still preserving the fine expression. 
 
 Had he done this, such a combination of two great painters 
 would have produced almost a perfect work. 
 
 Whilst thus speaking of Reynolds' practice, I shall add some- 
 thing further with respect to his theory.! In particular, it was 
 Sir Joshua's opinion, that if the vegetable colours (which are 
 infinitely the most beautiful) were enclosed by varnish from 
 the external atmosphere, they would not fade ; however, what 
 he proposed as the remedy was still worse than the disease, as 
 the colour would still fade, added to which the varnish itself 
 would crack. 
 
 * Mem. page 37. t Mem. page 39. 
 
WILLIAM CAREY: D.D. LORD HISHOP OF F.XETER. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. LXXXI 
 
 Yet, from experience, he must have been well aware of the 
 pernicious consequences of some of the nostrums (if I may 
 so call them) that he often made use of, as I well remember, 
 he was much displeased with a young painter, who showed him 
 a picture in which experimental mixtures, composed of wax 
 and varnishes of divers sorts, had been used ; and afterwards, 
 speaking of him to me, he said, {i That boy will never do any 
 good if they do not take away from him all his gallipots of 
 varnish and foolish mixtures :"■ nor would he suffer me, 
 during the whole time I resided in his house, to make use of 
 any other materials than the common preparations of colour, 
 just as we have them from the hands of the colour-man ; and 
 all varnishes, and every kind of experiment, were strictly 
 prohibited. Likewise all his own preparations of colour were 
 most carefully concealed from my sight and knowledge, and 
 perpetually locked secure in his drawers ; thus never to be 
 seen or known by any one but himself. In his own practice, 
 however, he would venture on whatever experiment was 
 recommended to him by any adviser that came in his way ; 
 and when he was at any time accused of having spoiled many 
 of his portraits, by trying experiments upon them, he 
 answered, that it was always his wish to have made these 
 experiments on his fancy pictures, and if so, had they failed 
 of success, the injury would have fallen only on himself, as he 
 should have kept them on his hands ; but that he was 
 prevented from practising thus, by his being at the time 
 perpetually employed in painting portraits ; and therefore 
 obliged to make his trials on those, as eagerness in the pursuit 
 of excellence was, in him, uncontroulable. 
 
 It was of advantage to the old school of Italian painters, 
 that they were under the necessity of making most of their 
 
 SUPPLEMENT- M 
 
f.XXXII 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 colours themselves, or at least under the inspection of such as 
 possessed chymical knowledge, which excluded all possibility 
 of those adulterations to which the moderns are exposed. 
 The same also was the case in England, till the time of Sir 
 Godfrey Kneller, who, when he came to this country, brought 
 over a servant with him, whose sole employment was to 
 prepare all his colours and materials for his work. Kneller 
 afterwards set him up as a colour-maker for artists ; and this 
 man's success, he being the first that kept a colour-shop in 
 London, occasioned the practice of it as a trade. 
 
 Sir Joshua was ever careful about procuring unadulterated 
 articles of every sort, and has often desired me to inform the 
 colour-man, that he should not regard any price that might be 
 demanded, provided the colours were genuine. 
 
 In his investigations also into the secrets used by the old 
 painters, he was indefatigable. I remember once in particular, 
 a fine picture of Parmegiano, that I bought by his order at a 
 sale ; which he rubbed and scoured down to the very pannel 
 on which it had been painted, so that at last nothing remained 
 of the picture. Speaking to him of the extraordinary merits 
 of Titian, I asked him, if he thought there ever would be in 
 the world a superior in portrait-painting ? he answered, that 
 he believed there never would — that, to procure a real fine 
 picture by Titian, he would be content to sell every thing he 
 possessed in the world, to raise the money for its purchase ; 
 adding, with emphasis, " I would be content to ruin myself." 
 
 I have already taken notice of the assistance which Sir 
 Joshua received, as usual with painters who are much occupied, 
 in the accessories of his portraits.* One of those assistants, 
 
 # Mem. page 23 U 
 
*!5IR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. LXXX1II 
 
 Peter Toms, was certainly a very good drapery painter, and, 
 as I have observed in the Memoir, was frequently employed 
 by Sir Joshua in that part of his pictures ; but the manner of 
 Toras's pencilling did not exactly harmonize with the style of 
 Sir Joshua's heads, as it was heavy, and wanted freedom, so 
 that his work had too much the appearance of having been 
 done with a stamp, as the paper-hangings for rooms are exe- 
 cuted. Sometimes he misunderstood Sir Joshua's intention 
 in the picture ; once in particular, in a full length portrait of 
 a lady, instead of painting her in a rural habit, as Sir Joshua 
 had designed, he had turned it into a dress of state. When 
 Sir Joshua saw the picture, he expostulated with Toms, and 
 told him that it would not do by any means, and, in short, 
 that he must paint it all over again. Toms refused, saying he 
 had worked upon the drapery till his heart ached, and he 
 could do no more to it ; adding, " you ought to be more 
 explicit when you give the pictures into my hands." Sir 
 Joshua said the drapery did not accord with the head. Toms 
 answered, " that is because your heads are painted on a dimi- 
 nished scale." When Sir Joshua, mistaking him, in a great 
 alarm cried out, " What, do you say that I paint in a little 
 manner? did you say mine is a little manner ?" ■* No," re- 
 plied Toms, " but I say that your heads are less than the 
 life." 
 
 Toms afterwards became very poor, and it is said died a 
 violent death by his own hands. 
 
 In the year 1775, Sir Joshua finished the picture of Lady 
 Cockburn with her three children, in one group, and sent it 
 to the Royal Academy, When it was first brought into the 
 room, in order to its being exhibited, all the painters then 
 
 m 2 
 
LXXXIV SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 present were so struck with its extraordinary splendour and 
 excellence, that they testified their approbation of it by sud- 
 denly clapping with their hands. 
 
 I observed that at the commencement of this picture, the 
 whole group of figures was so placed on the canvas, as to throw 
 all the principal light too much on one side of the compo- 
 sition, which gave it a very aukward appearance, and created 
 a great difficulty, as it required much consideration to over- 
 come the defect. After many trials, Sir Joshua at last, with 
 true judicious management, illumined the vacant space in the 
 canvas behind the figures, by an opening of most exquisitely 
 coloured landscape in the back ground, which, together with 
 a red curtain, and the gay plumage of a macaw, soon rendered 
 it one of his most happy compositions. On this picture he 
 has marked his name within the embroidered edge of the gar- 
 ment, in the same manner as on the portrait of Mrs. Siddons ; 
 and these two are the -only pictures in which he has ever 
 done so. 
 
 I recollect an anecdote, which helps to prove how difficult 
 he found it ever to satisfy himself in his work, and how desirous 
 he was to make it nearer perfection, even after the best judges 
 were content : for at this time he had painted an excellent 
 head of the Duchess of Leinster, sister to the Duke of Rich- 
 mond ; and when Edmund Burke saw the picture, he ex- 
 claimed, "What a beautiful head you have made of this 
 lady ! it is impossible to add any thing to its advantage." 
 But Sir Joshua was not satisfied, and answered with much 
 feeling, " It does not please me yet ; there is a sweetness of 
 expression in the original which I have not been able to give 
 in the portrait, and therefore cannot think it finished." 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, 
 
 LXXXV 
 
 Indeed, Sir Joshua was not at all liable to be misled, or 
 even moved, by either praise or flattery from those persons in 
 his presence. He has often remarked that every man is sur- 
 rounded by his own little circle of admirers, who, influenced 
 by friendship or interest, &c. frequently bestow on him unqua- 
 lified praise. " But if we desire to learn the real truth," he 
 added, " our view must be extended, and observation and 
 enquiry made of what is thought and said by the world beyond 
 this little and partial set of courtiers." 
 
 The Clown in Shakespeare's Tivelfth Night says, he is the 
 worse for his friends, because they praise him, and make an 
 ass of him ; but his foes tell him plainly he is an ass. So that 
 by his foes he profits in the knowledge of himself, and by his 
 friends he is abused. 
 
 Mr. R — B — S — - related to Sir Joshua,* that a small duo- 
 decimo volume had just been published, which professed by 
 its title to contain the Beauties of Shakespeare. cc I asked," 
 said Mr. S — , " when this little book was put into my hand, 
 what was become of the other ten volumes ?" 
 
 I have mentioned some opinions of Burke's, particularly 
 with respect to Gibbon's History ; and in that opinion 
 Burke was not singular ; as this eminent author, so admired 
 by many, did not please all the judges of literature. Porson, 
 the well-known Greek scholar, was lamenting to a friend that 
 so large a portion of his own youthful time had been spent in 
 acquiring the Greek language. " If I had a son," said he, 
 
 Mem. page 237. 
 
LXKXVI 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 " to educate, I would make him study his native language, and 
 I would give him, as his task every morning, a sufficient por- 
 tion of the pages of Gibbon for him to translate into plain 
 English."* 
 
 It has already been observed, f that Sir Joshua, with true 
 genius, disdained not to draw instruction either from the 
 rudest teachers or from infantine simplicity ; in confirmation 
 of which, in one of his manuscript fragments, I find the fol- 
 lowing observations, which well correspond with the above. 
 
 " I cannot but think that Apelles's method of exposing his 
 pictures for public criticism was a very good one. I do not 
 know why the judgment of the vulgar on the mechanical parts 
 of painting should not be as good as any whatever : for in- 
 stance, as to whether such or such a part be natural or not. 
 If one of those persons should ask why half the face is black, 
 or why there is such a spot of black, or snuff, as they will call 
 
 * Gibbon used to call frequently on Sir Joshua; and one morning, when I was 
 in the adjoining room, I overheard the conversation, as those who spoke to Sir 
 Joshua were obliged to speak rather in a loud voice on account of his deafness. I 
 remember Gibbon related that a friend of his had, some little time before, bought 
 an old casket, which contained many drawers, when, on making a very strict search 
 into it, he had discovered one secret drawer, which had not been perceived by its 
 latest possessors, and in this drawer he had the good luck to find several pieces of 
 very old gold coin, amounting to five times the price he had given for the casket ; 
 but this was not all, he found, also', curiously wrapt up in a piece of paper, a very 
 old fashioned -ring for the finger, and on the paper was written, "This is the very 
 ring that Queen Elizabeth gave secretly to the Earl of Essex, and which ring he was 
 to send to her at i iy time of his distress, as a token of his sincerity and attachment 
 to the Queen." 
 
 The sequel of this ring is well known, and that Essex did send it by a traitorous 
 lady, who never deliveie I it to her Majesty, 
 t Mem. page 240. 
 
SIR JOSHUA RfeYNOLDS. LXXXVII 
 
 it, under the nose, I should conclude from thence that th£ 
 shadows are thick, or dirtily painted, or that the shadow under 
 the nose was too much resembling snuff, when, if those 
 shadows had exactly resembled the transparency and colour of 
 nature, they would have no more been taken notice of than 
 the shadow in nature itself. Yet I have seen painters lift up 
 their eyes at such observations, and wrapping themselves up 
 in their own conceit, complain of the want of connoissance in the 
 world in order to value their works as they deserve, never 
 suspecting the fault to be wholly in themselves. 
 
 £C A painter should nevertheless take care not to conde- 
 scend too far, and sacrifice his taste to the judgment of the 
 multitude ; few of those are capable of giving a good judgment 
 in regard to the delicacy of expression." 
 
 Of his sentiments on other subjects unconnected with the 
 practice of art, there are many that come to my recollection ; 
 in particular,* when I related to him that old Mr. James , 
 Ferguson, the astronomer, was offered the Fellowship of the 
 Royal Society, without solicitation or expense, yet when 
 informed of it, asked " what he should gain by it ?" and 
 the answer was, that it was an honour conferred on him 
 gratuitously, for which others were very willing to pay ; 
 " Ah," said Mr. Ferguson, " I do not want honour, I want 
 bread !" Sir Joshua observed, that the obtaining of honours 
 was the means of obtaining bread. 
 
 Sir Joshua would not willingly admit of any excuse by way 
 of palliating a bad performance. Once, on my shewing a 
 landscape to him, painted by a friend of mine, an amateur in 
 
 * Mem. page 242. 
 
LXXXVIII SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the art, he said it was very badly done, and asked me if I did 
 not think the same. When I endeavoured to make some apo- 
 logy for my friend, by saying he had not had the advantage of 
 instruction, he answered rather quickly, " What signifies 
 that ? In this manner you may excuse any thing, however 
 bad it may be." 
 
 In one of his manuscripts, speaking of Michael Angelo, he 
 says, " For such a superior genius, while wrapt in wonder and 
 amazement at his own ideas, to be surly, even to his superiors, 
 is excuseable ; but for such as degrade human nature, and trans- 
 form them in their representations into monkeys, to imitate 
 this peevishness, and give themselves such airs, is the very 
 excess of the ridiculous." 
 
 He observes <c that any miserable artist who had failed in 
 his profession as a painter, from want of ability, and had after- 
 wards, from necessity, turned picture dealer, was always consi- 
 dered, by pretended connoisseurs, as well as by a great part of 
 the world, as a much better judge of the art than the most 
 successful artist." 
 
 He again remarks, that " it is very possible for a whole nation 
 to have a peculiarity of manners which shall be condemned by 
 their neighbours, so that what is politeness in one country 
 shall be deemed foppery in another. Sir Godfrey Kneller and 
 Sir Peter Lely, who were mannerists, and admired in England, 
 are despised in France and Italy ; but Vandyke's pictures, 
 which are truth itself, and the result of a close attention to 
 nature, are admired by the whole world." 
 
 I once observed to Sir Joshua,* that a certain insignificant 
 
 * Mem. page 243. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 LXXXIX 
 
 person of our acquaintance had frequent assemblies at his 
 house, which were attended by persons of the very highest 
 rank, and that it was surprizing how he could induce them to 
 come to him ; when Sir Joshua, who knew the world much 
 better than I ever shall, set me right by saying, <e If you will 
 but provide suitable entertainment for them, you may easily 
 have for your visitors whoever you chuse to invite, from the 
 highest to the lowest." 
 
 When the much praised tragedy of Braganza was brought 
 out on the stage at Drury Lane Theatre, Sir Joshua went to 
 the first representation, and sat in the orchestra, a place he 
 always preferred on account of his difficulty of hearing ; he was 
 accompanied by Mr. Garrick. The performance of Mrs. Yates, 
 as Duchess of Braganza, gave universal satisfaction, and was 
 received with the greatest applause. I heard Sir Joshua say, 
 that when he turned to see how Garrick felt on the occasion 
 he perceived his eyes suffused in tears. 
 
 Mr. Edmund Burke had great objection to that scene in the 
 tragedy, in which poison is intended to be given infused in the 
 holy wafer, he seemed to conceive it to be a new invention, 
 saying such dreadful modes of wickedness ought not to have 
 been divulged to the world. But surely Mr. Burke must have 
 known that it had been practised before the drama of Bra- 
 ganza was ever thought of, and that it has been also recorded 
 in history. 
 
 I have already given many extracts from Reynolds' MSS.,* 
 and I have since discovered the following : — 
 
 " It is not to be supposed that those works which have 
 
 SUPPLEMENT. 
 
 Mem. page 243. 
 N 
 
XC SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 stood the test of the wisest and severest ages have in reality 
 nothing of intrinsic value, but owe the long possessing of fame 
 to a hit of fortune, to the humour or tame obsequiousness of a 
 long succession of admirers. Such an opinion is too bold an 
 attempt upon the reason of mankind, and he that holds it 
 must either be possessed of divine wisdom, or be much of a 
 fool. By invincible arguments to demonstrate the mistakes of 
 the learned world in all its errors which have continued for 
 ages, requires a soul of divine perspicuity, (Newton's was 
 such,) clear from those incumbrances that have misguided and 
 obscured the perceptions of other mortals. To oppose a 
 single capricious opinion to the collected force of long esta- 
 blished authority, looks like some hero in a play, or the 
 knight errant in a romance, who with his two arms alone routs 
 whole thousands." 
 
 " Raffaelle did not think that pictures ought to be con- 
 sidered as merely ornamental furniture. If that alone had 
 been the intent and end of painting, how many painters would 
 be his superiors ! He intended to move the passions, to inspire 
 the spectators with the love of virtue and of noble actions ; 
 consequently his pictures are not to be slightly passed over, 
 but must be dwelt upon ; and the longer this is done, the 
 deeper the impression will be made. 
 
 " When a grace is said to be catched beyond, or contrary 
 to the rules of art, it is never a truth ; for it may be contrary 
 to one rule, but subservient to another more comprehensive. 
 For instance, Raffaelle, in the figure of Christ in the Trans- 
 figuration, has made such lines as are contrary to the general 
 rules ; but they are agreeable to a more extensive rule ; that 
 of being natural, simple, unaffected, and of more energy. It 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 xcr 
 
 breaks, indeed, through one rule to approach nearer to another 
 of greater consequence. 
 
 " It is possible we should have seen greater variety of 
 thoughts, and more extraordinary conceptions in the works of 
 painters, if they were left to themselves, and did not follow 
 each other like sheep. 
 
 " Too much attention to other men's thoughts, by filling 
 the mind, extinguishes the natural power, like too much fuel 
 on fire. 
 
 " The human mind cannot at once recollect all the rules of 
 art, or if it could, would still not know how to apply them 
 without practice; it must be by repeated acts that the habit 
 is settled of doing right without reflecting on rules. 
 
 " A painter, who vaunted himself upon the great learning 
 and knowledge he had in his profession, produced a picture 
 which he boasted was painted according to the severity of the 
 rules of his art. The connoisseurs flocked to see it ; and 
 when, contrary to his expectations, they remained silent, he 
 is astonished at people's blindness and want of taste, pities 
 their ignorance, and complains how little merit is regarded 
 in those days. " I do not wonder at all," says a friend to 
 whom he had made his moan, " at the ill success of fyour 
 piece, in which you boast to have followed the rigour of the 
 rules of art ;. when you have neglected the first and most essen- 
 tial of them, which is to have feeling or genius for the art. 
 
 " When a poet would represent a man inflamed by passion, 
 to put a simile in his mouth he knows would be contrary to 
 the rules of poetry, because it would be unnatural. But, sup- 
 pose the poet truly felt the passion he would represent at the 
 time he was writing upon it, (which most certainly Shake- 
 
 n 2 
 
XCII 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 speare did,) he would never look about for a simile, it would 
 inevitably cause the passion to languish. Thus we see that 
 rules are founded on nature, consequently a poet who felt his 
 subject properly would have very little occasion for rules. 
 
 " Homer's Iliad was first written, then Aristotle drew his 
 rules of an epic poem. 
 
 " Genius begins where rules end. When a painter is master 
 of every rule that is already found out, let one rule more be 
 added ; that is, not to be confined by any, but to think for 
 himself." Hippocrates' Advice. 
 
 " Squareness has grandeur ; it gives firmness to the forms : 
 a serpentine line, in comparison, appears feeble and tottering. 
 
 <e A firm walk or step is grand. A light step may be genteel. 
 
 " A strait avenue is grand ; a serpentine line elegant. 
 
 <c One class alone cannot possess all excellencies. 
 
 " Fashion sometimes adopts one, sometimes the other. 
 
 " Perfection partakes equally of all. 
 
 " In passing our judgment, we are to consider the class to 
 which the subject belongs. 
 
 " In all these cases, as you approach the one kind of excel- 
 lence you retreat from the other ; you cannot join the two 
 together without weakening the effect of each. 
 
 " The great delight of mankind is to strike with surprize. 
 
 " All games of recreation are an imitation of enmity. 
 
 " Portraits, as well as written characters of men, should be 
 decidedly marked, otherwise they will be insipid. 
 
 " The younger pupils are best taught by those who are in 
 a small degree advanced in knowledge above themselves, and 
 from that cause proceeds the peculiar advantage of studying 
 in academies. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 XCIII 
 
 cc There are some landscape painters, who the more they 
 work on their trees, render them the less like the objects of 
 their imitation. 
 
 " Real greatness is that which presents less by far to the 
 sense than to the imagination. 
 
 " Greatness causes admiration, oftentimes astonishment. 
 
 " There is a certain majesty in simplicity, which is far above 
 all the quaintess of wit." Pope. 
 
 " A certain degree of pride, enough to take off any timour- 
 ousness, and enable him to depend on the force of his own 
 genius, is a necessary qualification in a painter.* 
 
 " True sublimity consists more in the natural and simple 
 than in the pompous and swelling. 
 
 " The very foundation of the art of painting is invention ; 
 and he who most excels in that high quality must be allowed 
 to be the greatest painter, in what degree soever he may be 
 surpassed by others in the more inferior branches of the art. 
 
 " The painter who knows his profession from principles 
 may apply them alike to any branch of the art, and succeed 
 in it. 
 
 " Every painter has some favourite branch of the art which 
 he looks for in a picture ; and in proportion as that part is 
 well or ill executed, he pronounces his opinion upon the whole. 
 One artist looks for colouring, another for drawing, another 
 for handling ; an independent spectator looks for expression. 
 
 " Never give the least touch with your pencil till you have 
 present in your mind a perfect idea of your future work. 
 
 * Our own opinion that we shall succeed, is that often which gives us success in 
 the most difficult undertakings. 
 
XCIV 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 " Paint at the greatest distance possible 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 Marratti.* 
 
 " Look at the object from which you are painting with your 
 eye-lids half closed, which gives breadth to the object, and 
 subdues all the little unimportant parts. 
 
 " The difference between the Roman and the Venetian man- 
 ner of painting their draperies is, that the former has always 
 broad lights ; the latter only catches of light, and conse- 
 quently more natural, more silky, but not so noble. 
 
 " It surprises the ignorant in art when they hear it said, that 
 such drapery in a picture as seems to them not to be an exact 
 imitation of individual nature, is yet better than that which 
 is so natural, that (to use their own words,) it looks as if you 
 could take it up. I would ask such persons, whether in an 
 heroic poem (to that style in painting I allude,) they look 
 upon those expressions which are the most familiar to be the 
 best ? Expressions, however proper of themselves, yet, by 
 being too often in the mouths of the vulgar, contract a mean- 
 ness. It is the same in respect to the accompaniments in a 
 picture ; therefore the painter carefully avoids introducing 
 into his pictures those utensils which are familiar, and seen by 
 us~every day, even so to drapery : or when forced to adopt 
 them, then they are drawn after a form of his own composing, 
 
 * An expression of modesty softens the eye, and improves the beauty of the 
 face while it discovers that of the mind. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 XCV 
 
 or else taken from antique models. He therefore objects to 
 such drapery as would be called natural ; he seeks only the 
 order of the folds, that they are large, and of a noble cast ; 
 that they mark out the parts they cover, and flow sweetly 
 into each other, and conduct the eye with satisfaction from 
 one fold to another, without offensive crossings or affected 
 contrasts. 
 
 " The painter, as well as the poet, founds his work on ge- 
 neral nature : but in the style of Watteau, Lancret, &c, on 
 the contrary, the more natural the drapery is represented the 
 better it is. 
 
 " Raffaelle and Rembrandt both imitated nature ; with this 
 difference, that the first showed what she had that was most 
 beautiful, noble, and simple : the other took her without selec- 
 tion, and without exactness. It is true we see nature in his 
 figures, but we are sorry to say it is nature. 
 
 " It is necessary that a painter should have an elevated and 
 sublime comprehension of things ; which is to be acquired by 
 being intimately acquainted with the noblest characters of the 
 ancients. 
 
 " There is a bombast in painting as well as in poetry, and 
 it is divided from the true sublime by a thin partition. Hence 
 it often happens that when the painter thinks he has given 
 his figure the air of a hero, or the poet made him, as he con- 
 ceives, speak like one, they are no more the true represen- 
 tations of either, than Ancient Pistol, or the player, who, in 
 order to act the great hero, endeavoured to look as big as he 
 could, and strutted about the stage till he was hissed off by 
 his judicious audience. 
 
XCVI SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 " Some painters imagine the sublime to consist in over- 
 strained and forced attitudes ; thus quitting as much as pos- 
 sible every easy and natural air and action. 
 
 " Others, on the contrary, by imitating nature too closely, 
 and without choice, have made their figures appear mean and 
 inelegant. The first manner is the most prevalent, and indeed 
 by much the easiest attained ; as the other extreme requires 
 some attention to nature. 
 
 <e Those pompous airs, however, are more imposing, and 
 make a greater show, and strike the eye of a raw and ignorant 
 beholder far more than the simple natural manner. 
 
 " The same principle is applicable also to colouring ; as 
 colours, raw and gaudy, give most delight to the eye of the 
 vulgar. 
 
 " In painting, as in architecture, the very essence and per- 
 fection of the grand style is simplicity ; not to be too much 
 encumbered with little ornaments, which produce no effect at 
 a distance, but only make a confused heap of littlenesses. 
 
 " On the contrary, a picture should be composed of few and 
 large parts, which fill the eye distinctly. 
 
 " Large parts and few are the foundation of a grand gusto. 
 
 " A simplicity of taste may descend into clownishness and 
 poverty of invention ; so also a richness and redundancy of 
 invention may run into wildness, a romantic kind of richness 
 and magnificence, like the descriptions to be met with only 
 in romances : the consequence of which is, that you behold 
 them without the least emotion. 
 
 " (Economy and frugality have a relationship to taste, in 
 not being too prodigal of rich ornaments or gay draperies. 
 
Painted try Sir Joshua. Reynolds. EK-A. Engraved WTVWridht. 
 
 J OH W "MUTT T E 1R , J?. U , S . 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 XCVII 
 
 " Endeavour to look at the subject or sitter from which 
 you are painting as if it was a picture ; this will in some de- 
 gree 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 its 
 lines. 
 
 " When a painter becomes fond of talking, he had better 
 put a padlock on his mouth, because those who can be ad- 
 mired for what they say will have less desire to be admired 
 for what they can do ; and as the former is so much easier 
 performed with applause than the latter, it will more fre- 
 quently be adopted : it being the nature of mankind to get as 
 much commendation as they can acquire, and by the easiest 
 means. " 
 
 Of talkers he adds, " They read, study, and look at pic- 
 tures, with no other view than that of qualifying themselves 
 for talking on the subject ; their knowledge goes no further : 
 so that an ingenious man may sometimes by chance hear a 
 profitable sentence from them, though it really is of no kind 
 of service to themselves. They are like the bird that brings 
 home meat in her beak for her young, but never tastes it 
 herself. 
 
 " Those talkers foolishly think, that if they have acquired 
 a reputation by their tongue, it is sufficient for them ; so do 
 not care to struggle with the laborious part, that of endea- 
 vouring to practise what they so fluently deliver. 
 
 " 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 com- 
 monly the habit of old age." 
 
 SUPPLEMENT. O 
 
XCVIII 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 The following are some of his observations on drawing : 
 " Take care to give your figure a sweep or sway. 
 " Outlines in waves, soft, and almost imperceptible against 
 the back ground. 
 
 " Never make the contour too coarse. 
 
 " Avoid also those outlines and lines which are equal, which 
 make parallels, triangles, &c. 
 
 " The parts that are nearest to our eye appear more enlight- 
 ened, deeper shadowed, and better seen. 
 
 " Keep broad lights and shadows, and also principal lights 
 and shadows. 
 
 <f Where there is the deepest shadow it is accompanied by 
 the brightest light. 
 
 i( Let nothing start out, or be too strong for its place." 
 
 ON PAINTING A HEAD. 
 
 " Let those parts which turn or retire from our 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 til) 
 they are so. 
 
 " Use red colours in the shadows of the most delicate com- 
 plexions, but with discretion. 
 
 i( Contrive to have a skreen 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." 
 
 Notwithstanding that Reynolds, in the course of a long 
 life, had judged it prudent, for his own use and reference, to 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 XCIX 
 
 make so many memorandums of his floating ideas on the 
 subject of his profession, yet it was impossible for any man to 
 have thought upon the arduous labours of that profession 
 with more modesty.* Indeed, when Lord Monboddo, once 
 discoursing with him, said, that he thought the profession of 
 painting must require great exertion of mind and arduous 
 study, Sir Joshua, with his accustomed modesty, answered, 
 " that he did not think it deserved the name of study, as it 
 was no more than that degree of employment for the mind 
 which fully occupies it without fatigue : and probably, for 
 this reason, was more conducive to the happiness of the 
 individual, than the practice of any other profession." 
 
 I think that, when Sir Joshua made this answer, he did not 
 recollect the various knowledge and great invention which is 
 required by those who have made the ample field of historical 
 painting their study and pursuit. It was rather the speech 
 of a mere portrait painter ; for, at other times, I have heard 
 him confess the great difficulty it was to him to paint his- 
 tory, from the want of practice in that department ; which, 
 to execute in its utmost perfection, requires more knowledge 
 than has ever been possessed by any one man. 
 
 It was his opinion, that the population of London was no 
 more than just sufficient to afford a reputable maintenance 
 for eight painters only, and this number to include all the 
 different branches of the art. What would he now say when 
 more than eight hundred come forward and claim a mainten- 
 ance, and their number every is day increasing ? 
 
 Another, and perhaps a more interesting anecdote, I recol- 
 lectf of a young artist of the name of Powell, who was much em- 
 
 * Mem. page 239. t Mem. page 262. 
 
 o 2 
 
c 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ployed in copying Sir Joshua's pictures in a small size, in oil 
 colours, and which he executed with much accuracy and taste. 
 Amongst others, he copied the great picture of the Marl- 
 borough family, now at Blenheim castle, which Sir Joshua 
 had just finished ; and when Powell produced the copy for 
 his inspection, he surprized him by finding much fault with the 
 effect of the back ground, although it was an exact imitation 
 of the original picture. Powell, fatigued by the labour he 
 had already bestowed, protested he could make it no better, 
 but Sir Joshua quieted his alarm, by assuring him, it was with 
 his own original that he was offended, not with the copy : and 
 accordingly altered it afterwards upon mature reflection. 
 
 This circumstance shews his openness to conviction, and 
 his readiness to correct whatever he found amiss in his own 
 works. 
 
 That Reynolds was as willing to give advice to others, as to 
 profit from the humblest hints, is evident from his conduct 
 towards Mr.Pocock,* the present eminent marine painter, who, 
 in 1780, sent his first attempt in oil colours, to him, at the same 
 time desiring to have his candid opinion upon the picture, 
 and, if he thought proper, that it might be exhibited at the 
 Royal Academy exhibition. To this he received the following 
 answer. 
 
 To N. Pocock Esq. 
 
 Leicester Fields, May 4th, 1780. 
 
 " DE Alt SIR, 
 
 " Your picture came too late for the exhibition. It is 
 much beyond what I expected from a first essay in oil colours : 
 all the parts separately are extremely well painted ; but there 
 
 * Mem. page 266. 
 
► 
 
 SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. CI 
 
 wants a harmony in the whole together ; there is no union 
 between the clouds, the sea, and the sails. Though the sea 
 appears sometimes as green as you have painted it, yet it is 
 a choice very unfavourable to the art ; it seems to me absolutely 
 necessary in order to produce harmony, and that the picture 
 should appear to be painted, as the phrase is, from one palette, 
 that those three great objects of ship-painting should be very 
 much of the same colour as was the practice of Vandevelde, 
 and he seems to be driven to this conduct by necessity. 
 Whatever colour predominates in a picture, that colour must 
 be introduced in other parts ; but no green colour, such as 
 you have given to the sea, can make a part of a sky. I believe 
 the truth is, that, however the sea may appear green, when 
 you are looking down on it, and it is very near — at such a 
 distance as your ships are supposed to be, it assumes the 
 colour of the sky. 
 
 " I would recommend to you, above all things, to paint from 
 nature instead of drawing ; to carry your palette and pencils 
 to the water side. This was the practice of Vernet, whom I 
 knew at Rome ; he then shewed me his studies in colours, 
 which struck me very much, for that truth which those works 
 only have which are produced while the impression is warm 
 from nature : at that time he was a perfect master of the cha- 
 racter of water, if I may use the expression, he is now reduced 
 to a mere mannerist, and no longer to be recommended for 
 imitation, except you would imitate him by uniting landscape 
 to ship-painting, which certainly makes a more pleasing com- 
 position than either alone. 
 
 " I am, with great respect, 
 ■■' Your most humble and obedient servant, 
 "Joshua Reynolds." 
 
CII 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE 
 
 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 This letter contains much excellent advice as well as ob- 
 servation ; but why Sir Joshua should say of the harmony of 
 Vandevelde, that he seems to be driven to this conduct from 
 necessity in any instance, is to me inexplicable ; or, as if there 
 could be any other reason than that of a nice observation of na- 
 ture. Vandevelde was an exquisite imitator of nature, and 
 therefore his pictures have harmony. To say that nature is out 
 of harmony, is a contradiction in terms, and of course nonsense. 
 If at any time we imagine that we see nature out of harmony, 
 we may rest assured that the defect is in ourselves, and not in 
 nature ; and in respect to Vandevelde, it is my opinion, that, 
 as a colourist, for his truth to nature, and harmony of effect, 
 he has never been surpassed by the professors of any depart- 
 ment in art. 
 
 I have mentioned an anecdote of the late Lord Ashburton,* 
 to which I may add, thatf at another time Dunning, in con- 
 
 * Mem. page 268. 
 
 -f As the Literary Club has been often noticed in the Memoirs, I shall give ex- 
 tracts from two letters, written in this year, as they convey a clear idea of the 
 peculiar splendour of the Society at the period. 
 
 " Mr. Jones (afterwards Sir William) to the Bishop of St. Asaph. 
 " my lord, November 23d. 1780. 
 
 " Had I not been prevented, by particular business, from writing to your lord- 
 ship on Tuesday evening and yesterday, I would have informed you before, that 
 we had done ourselves the honor (and a very great one we shall ever esteem it) of 
 electing your lordship a member of our Club. The election was, of course, unanim- 
 ous, and it was carried with the sincere approbation and eagerness of all present. 
 I am sorry to add, that Lord Camden and the Bishop of Chester were rejected. 
 When bishops and chancellors honor us with offering to dine with us at a tavern, 
 it seems very extraordinary, that we should ever reject such an offer : but there is 
 no reasoning on the caprice of men. Of our Club, I will only say, that there is 
 no branch of human knowledge, on which some of our members are not capable 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 CIII 
 
 versation with Sir Joshua, mentioned to him, on seeing Lord 
 Mansfield's portrait in the gallery, the high estimation in 
 which he held that nobleman's great abilities ; saying, that 
 during all the early part of his own studies, he made it a 
 matter of the first consequence always to attend at the courts 
 of law, where Lord Mansfield was to speak, and with the same 
 eagerness, he added, " as you, Sir Joshua, would desire and 
 delight to see the finest picture by Titian or by Raffaelle." 
 
 Lord Mansfield sat to Sir Joshua for that excellent portrait 
 which has since been engraved by Bartolozzi. In the progress 
 of painting this picture, Sir Joshua one day asked him his 
 opinion of it, and if he thought it was a likeness. When his 
 lordship replied, that it was totally out of his power to judge 
 of its degree of resemblance, as he had not seen his own face in 
 any looking-glass, during the last thirty years of his life ; for his 
 
 of giving information, and, I trust, that, as the honour will be our's, so your lordship 
 will receive some pleasure from the company once a fortnight, of some of our first 
 writers and critics, as well as our most virtuous senators and accomplished men. 
 I think myself highly honoured in having been a member of this society near ten 
 years, and chiefly, in having contributed to add such names to the number of our 
 friends, as those of your lordship and Lord Althorpe. 
 
 " The Bishop of St. Asaph to Mr. (afterwards Sir William) Jones. 
 " DEAR sir, November 27th. 
 
 " You was prevented by Sir Joshua Reynolds in your kind intentions of giving 
 me the earliest notice of the honour you have done me. I believe Mr. Fox will 
 allow me to say, that the honour of being elected into the Turk's Head Club is 
 not inferior to that of being the representative of Westminster or Surrey. The 
 electors are certainly more disinterested, and 1 should say, they are much better 
 judges of merit, if they had not rejected Lord Camden and chosen me. 
 
 I flatter myself with the hopes of great pleasure and improvement in such 
 society as you describe, which is the only club of which I ever wished myself a 
 member. 
 
CIV 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 servant always dressed him and put on bis wig, which therefore 
 rendered it quite unnecessary for him to look at himself in a 
 mirror. 
 
 Count D'Adhemar, some time ambassador from the former 
 court of France, when in England, had two portraits at his 
 house in London — one of the late unfortunate Queen of France, 
 and the other of her favorite lady, Madame de Polignac ; 
 these were by the hand of Madame Le Brun, the most es- 
 teemed artist of France for portraits. 
 
 When D'Adhemar left England, his house was publicly 
 shown at the sale of his furniture : the nobility flocked to see 
 those two portraits ; and it became the fashion to admire 
 them, and to speak of them with the utmost extravagance of 
 praise. But an eminent English painter, of the time, who did 
 not coincide with the popular opinion, has thus ludicrously 
 described the excellencies of Madame Le Brun's merits : — 
 
 " Where burnish'd beads, silk satin, laces, vie, 
 
 In leaden lustre with the gooseberry eye ; 
 
 Where broad cloth breathes, to talk where cushions strive, 
 
 And all, but Sir, or Madam, looks alive !" 
 
 These portraits Sir Joshua also went to see, and soon after, 
 when I paid him a visit, I found him with Mr. Merry, the poet, 
 discoursing upon the merits of those very pictures. As I 
 had not conceived that it was worth any painter's trouble to 
 go to see them, I had not gone, but was glad when I found 
 that he had seen them, that I might have the opinion of so 
 great a judge. 
 
 I said " Pray what do you think of them Sir Joshua ?" 
 " That they are very fine," he answered. 
 " How fine ?" I said. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 CV 
 
 " As fine as those of any painter," was his answer. 
 
 " As fine as those of any painter, do you say ? do you mean 
 living or dead ?" — 
 
 When he answered me rather briskly, " Either living or 
 dead." 
 
 I then, in great surprize, exclaimed, " Good G — ! what as 
 fine as Vandyke ?" 
 
 He answered tartly, " Yes, and finer." 
 
 I said no more, perceiving he was displeased at my ques- 
 tioning him. 
 
 I mention the above circumstance to show his disinclination 
 to oppose the popular opinion, or to say any thing against 
 the interest of a cotemporary artist : as it was not his inten- 
 tion to mislead me, but only to put a stop to my enquiries. 
 
 There are, in succession, meteors of fashion which we see 
 suddenly rise and as suddenly fall ; with respect to these, it is 
 but policy that established professors should be silent, or, if 
 obliged to speak, that what they say, should be only an echo 
 of the public voice. To stem the torrent of applause is impos- 
 sible — to give even a candid opinion would be to incur the 
 charge of envy, and therefore it would not be received as truth. 
 The world must be left to find out its own errors ; and when 
 this happens, which always soon follows extravagant and im- 
 proper praise, the object of former public admiration is fre- 
 quently not only denied even its just claims, but cruelly 
 attacked with all the rage of disappointment, and condemned 
 never to raise its head again. 
 
 Much, however, of what an artist says, on such a subject, 
 might perhaps better be distinguished by the manner than 
 by the matter. It cannot be supposed, that a liberal mind 
 
 SUPPLEMENT. P 
 
CVI 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 would be the pander to ignorance or prejudice. The wise 
 then will understand *, and fools cannot be led further astray. 
 
 On subjects where Sir Joshua was not afraid of being mis- 
 understood, his manner was always to speak his sentiments 
 plainly ; and I recollect that, soon after my return from Italy, 
 I described to Sir Joshua one of the pictures by RafFaelle, in 
 the Vatican, which, in respect to its bold and accomplished 
 expression, appeared to me to be the finest I had ever seen. 
 It is that of the miracle of Bolzena, in which we find pure 
 nature, unparalleled simplicity, and decided expression. The 
 subject represents a miracle, said to have happened either at 
 Orvieto or Bolzena to a priest, who being incredulous of the 
 doctrine of transubstantiation, saw the Host miraculously 
 dissolved into blood, before his eyes, as he celebrated mass. 
 
 In the countenance of the priest, Raffaelle has placed the 
 whole power of his art, and his whole dependance for the ex- 
 planation of the subject : as the sceptic seems not to have 
 moved or altered his position on the sight of the miracle, but 
 remains just in the same state as he would have done if nothing 
 extraordinary had happened ; and this appears the most na- 
 tural manner for him to act in, as the best means to conceal, 
 from the surrounding spectators, the heinousness of his former 
 infidelity, which had occasioned this miracle to bring him to 
 a sense of his wickedness : an inferior artist would un- 
 doubtedly have thrown him into some violent and obvious 
 action of astonishment, that the vulgar would have understood 
 and admired ; but Raffaelle has depended solely on the cha- 
 racter and expression in the face. — The priest is still on his 
 knees, with the napkin which contained the sacred Host, in his 
 hand, when, unfolding it, he discovers the wafer dissolved into 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. CVII 
 
 a cross of blood. This figure, although young and handsome 
 in person, yet, in point of character, has the countenance of a 
 bad man, or a scoundrel, and his face, red with shame and con- 
 fusion, clearly shews the fright and inward conviction so strange 
 and awful an appearance had occasioned in his mind. 
 
 When I had finished describing this picture to Sir Joshua, 
 and expressed the delight it gave me, I was surprised to hear 
 him say, that it was only my own imagination that had made 
 it out so distinctly ; as it could not possibly be expressed so 
 evidently as I had conceived it to be. 
 
 There are several prints of the picture, although very in- 
 different ones ; however, by referring to them, it may still 
 be seen whether I have been just in my description of it 
 or not. 
 
 Sir Joshua's backwardness at yielding faith to any flight of 
 enthusiasm on the subject of this picture, ought not to be 
 considered as arising from an unwillingness to do critical 
 justice to the merits of Jtaffaelle, but from a kind of caprice 
 at the moment : neither could he always preserve his own 
 works from the attacks of caprice, envy, or ignorance. 
 
 With respect to his so justly admired Nativity, at New 
 College chapel, Oxford,* a weak critic, at the time, pointed 
 out, what he conceived to be an error of Sir Joshua, in his 
 treatment of the subject as follows : — 
 
 " He tells us (alluding to Sir Joshua's remarks, in his 
 journey to Flanders and Holland) that, except in ludicrous 
 subjects, none of the personages of the picture ought to be 
 represented as looking out of it — his Nativity, therefore, ac- 
 
 * Mem. page 274. 
 
 p 2 
 
CVIII 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 cording to this rule, is a ludicrous subject, as Joseph is looking 
 at the spectator, and pointing to the infant." 
 
 This critic does not seem to understand the strict pro- 
 priety of this action. Joseph is not to point out the holy 
 child to those persons represented in the picture, who are 
 supposed to come prepared to adore it. He looks out of the 
 picture on the world, and directs them to behold their re- 
 deemer. 
 
 Thus we see, that the finest inventions may be thrown away 
 when addressed to a vulgar mind. 
 
 He has been reprehended, by the critics, for having acted 
 contrary to his own rules, laid down in his discourses, by in- 
 troducing silk and velvet in his solemn historical picture of 
 the death of Cardinal Beaufort ; as he condemns the specifica- 
 tion of individual stuffs in grand history : but surely he was 
 perfectly justifiable in the introduction of silk and velvet in 
 that picture, the subject of which may be considered as 
 modern ; and, as we are well assured that such draperies were 
 then in use, and therefore required. Evidently he means to 
 object to the practice of some of the best Flemish painters, 
 who, representing the ascension of the Virgin into Heaven, 
 surprize us when we behold her in a robe of white satin ; or 
 that of some of the French painters, who have clothed God 
 the Father in a changeable silk. 
 
 Much severe criticism was thrown out against his large 
 picture of the scene in the tragedy of Macbeth ; but my own 
 opinion of this piece is, that the visionary and awful effect 
 produced, both in the conception and execution of the back 
 ground of this picture, is certainly without a parallel in 
 the world— its novelty and its excellence bid defiance to all 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 CIX 
 
 future attempts at rivalry. Had the figure of Macbeth been 
 but equal in its requisite to this appalling scene, the picture 
 would have stood without a companion on earth. 
 
 It recals to my memory a picture by Titian, in a church 
 at Venice, although the subject is very dissimilar ; yet, like 
 that of Macbeth in its effect, it represents the martyrdom of 
 St. Lawrence by torch-light : but, as that picture was in a bad 
 condition when I saw it, it was difficult to descry its highest 
 degree of excellence. 
 
 I have also related in the Memoirs, the great objections 
 which were stated to Sir Joshua, on account of the demon 
 which he has introduced at the pillow of the dying Cardinal 
 Beaufort. 
 
 My own humble criticism on this picture is, that Sir Joshua 
 has not erred in introducing this demon, which I approve of, 
 but in his execution of his intention ; for, had he given this 
 fiend a visionary, mysterious, and awful appearance, no one 
 would or could have questioned its usefulness in the composi- 
 tion : but, on the contrary, he has made the figure too pal- 
 pable and material, and much too vulgar and mean in the 
 idea of its form. Nay, its distinctness is such, that, had it 
 not been rendered unfit and improbable, from its hideousness, 
 it might have passed or been mistaken for an attendant page 
 or dwarf, instead of a terrible and supernatural agent. 
 
 I have mentioned* a work written by Miss Reynolds, and 
 submitted to Dr. Johnson, for his opinion respecting its pub- 
 lication ; and it may not be uninteresting if a few specimens 
 of it are here inserted. 
 
 * M«m. page 279. 
 
cx 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO 
 
 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 " A fine tragedy, in the reading, is like a fine drawing by 
 a great master ; but when exhibited on the stage, seems as 
 if it had been coloured by a vulgar hand to make it appear 
 natural. 
 
 " A man, subject to anger, is, beyond all comparison, to be 
 preferred to him who is never angry. 
 
 " The fine arts comprehend all that is excellent in the moral 
 system, and, at the same time, open every path that tends to 
 the corruption of moral excellence. 
 
 " Without the liberal arts the human powers rest below 
 their proper line of cultivation ; with them, they transgress 
 too far beyond it. 
 
 " The fine arts are the proper amusements of the virtuous, 
 but probably were never brought to any great degree of ex- 
 cellence by the virtuous, unless the actuating motive was ne- 
 cessity. 
 
 " The love of fame, of wealth, and of power, are, in general, 
 the grand incentives to the practice of the fine arts, and at 
 the same time the greatest impediments to their improvement. 
 
 " The liberal arts, perhaps, never arrive at any great degree 
 of excellence in any nation, in which the influence of wealth 
 and luxury have previously prevailed ; for their fundamental 
 principles are the virtues. 
 
 " The fine arts (particularly painting) are as mirrors reflect- 
 ing the charms of nature, which few are capable of seeing in 
 nature herself. 
 
 " Bashfulness denotes strong sensibility, and seems to waver 
 betwixt pride and humility. 
 
 " Dress is the strong indication of the moral character. 
 
 " Benefits strengthen the ties of virtuous friendship ; but 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 CXI 
 
 where there is a deficiency of virtue, generally have a contrary 
 
 effect. 
 
 M A family, reared in indigence, is often rich in reciprocal 
 affections ; but affluence gives to hirelings those tender offices 
 which endear parents, children, brothers, and sisters to each 
 other. 
 
 " To lead the fashion indicates little merit, not to follow 
 it still less. 
 
 " Love probably never exists without admiration. Bruyere 
 observes, that none pass from friendship to love ; probably 
 because a thorough acquaintance, which fixes friendship, ex- 
 tinguishes admiration. 
 
 " Patience originates either from philosophy or from reli- 
 gion ; and therefore may be said to be the offspring of pride 
 or of humility. 
 
 " True politeness cannot be the concomitant of a weak or 
 a vicious mind. 
 
 " The love of praise, in a female breast, should never trans- 
 cend the domestic sphere ; perhaps the most perfect feminine 
 mind habitually aims at nothing higher than an exemption 
 from blame. 
 
 " There is always something respectable in the object that 
 excites the strongest ridicule, otherwise it would want the 
 contrast which makes it ridiculous." 
 
 As we are speaking of Miss Frances Reynolds, it brings to 
 my recollection her once mentioning an intimate friend of 
 hers, a lady of great virtue, integrity, and prudence, although 
 but of a common degree of intellect, when she said " I do not 
 consider Mrs. as a person of much power of mind, yet, in 
 
CXII 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 any difficulty, if I ask her advice that which she gives is always 
 sure to be right, although she cannot give the reason."* 
 
 The reason seems to be, that this lady always acted from the 
 accumulated experience of the world, which, with her, became 
 a rule of conduct like instinct ; but she never ventured to 
 act much from her own suggestions, because she apprehended 
 her own weakness. 
 
 On the contrary, it too often happens, that when we ask 
 advice of a genius, his fertile imagination is his own director, 
 and his mind suggests a thousand brilliant ideas, totally new, 
 but which never having had their effects proved by trial, may 
 very probably lead to difficulties if adopted. Those who 
 follow the beaten path of the world are therefore more likely 
 to go safely through it than those who are led into a new road 
 by the greatest genius. 
 
 The fate of genius is uncertain ; like gaming, it may lead 
 to riches and honor, and it may lead to poverty and wretched- 
 ness. 
 
 I remember a speech of the Rev. Lawrence Sterne, when 
 he was informed that a friend of his, a man of great capacity, 
 had married his maid-servant : " Ah \" said he, " I always 
 
 thought my friend, Mr. was a man of genius, as none 
 
 but a genius would have done so." 
 
 I have not been able to procure any further information 
 respecting Reynolds' pictorial tour,| but I cannot omit some 
 
 * Miss Frances Reynolds, sister to Sir Joshua, died at her house, in Queen's- 
 square, St. James's Park, at the advanced age of eighty years, on the first of Not 
 vember, 1807. 
 
 f Mem. page 284. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 CXIII 
 
 good observations, written in a fragment of an intended dedi- 
 cation to the friend who was his companion in the journey to 
 Flanders and Holland. 
 
 " The pleasure," he says, <c that a mere dilletanti derives 
 from seing the works of art, ceases when he has received the 
 full effect of each performance ; but the painter has the means 
 of amusing himself much longer, by investigating the prin- 
 ciples on which the artist wrought. 
 
 " Nor is it an inconsiderable advantage to see such 
 
 works in company with one who has a general rectitude of taste, 
 and is not a professor of the art. We are too apt to forget 
 that the art is not intended solely for the pleasure of profes- 
 sors. The opinions of others are certainly not to be neglected ; 
 since, by their means, the received rules of art may be cor- 
 rected : at least a species of benefit may be obtained, which 
 we are not likely to derive from the judgment of painters ; 
 who, being educated in the same manner are likely to judge 
 from the same principles, are liable to the same prejudices, 
 and may sometimes be governed by the influence of an autho- 
 rity, which perhaps has no foundation in nature." 
 
 We may be permitted to sum up our opinions of Reynolds' 
 sentiments on art, and of his mode of expressing them, by an 
 anecdote, told me by the late Mr. Opie, that a friend of his, 
 a clergyman, declared to him, that he once delivered one of 
 Sir Joshua's discourses, from the pulpit, as a sermon, with 
 no other alteration but in such words as made it applicable to 
 morals instead of the fine arts : which is a proof of the depth 
 of his reasoning, and of its foundation being formed on the 
 principles of general nature. 
 
 SUPPLEMENT. Q 
 
CXIV 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 To the foregoing observations on the subject of art, by Sir 
 Joshua himself, I take the liberty to add some lines by the 
 well-known Peter Pindar, and which have never before ap- 
 peared in print. 
 
 ADVICE TO YOUNG PAINTERS. BY PET EH PINDAR. 
 
 Study Sir Joshua's works, young men ; — 
 
 Not pictures only, but his pen : 
 Who, when Cimmerian darkness wheltn'd our isle, 
 
 Appear'd a comet in his art ; — 
 
 Bid nature from the canvas start, 
 And with the Graces bade that canvas smile. 
 
 Could Titian from his tomb arise, 
 
 And cast on Reynolds' art his eyes, 
 How would he heave of jealousy the groan ! 
 
 Here possibly I may mistake; 
 
 As Titian probably might take 
 The works of our great master for his own. 
 
 As a further proof of the high opinion which Dr. Wolcot 
 entertained of Sir Joshua's merits, I shall give an extract from 
 a letter of his to a friend. 
 
 " As nothing affords you a higher treat than something re- 
 lative to Reynolds, be informed then of what will excite your 
 envy. 
 
 " I lately breakfasted with him at his house in Leicester- 
 fields. After some desultory remarks on the old masters, but 
 not one word of the living artists (as on that subject one can 
 never obtain his real opinion), the conversation turned on Dr. 
 Johnson. On my asking him how the club, to which he be- 
 longed, could so patiently suffer the tyranny of this over- 
 bearing man, he replied, with a smile, that the members often 
 hazarded sentiments merely to try his powers in contradiction. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 cxv 
 
 I think I in some measure wounded the feelings of Reynolds, 
 by observing that I had often thought that the Ramblers were 
 Idlers, and the Idlers Ramblers, (except those papers which 
 he (Reynolds) had contributed ; and further, that Johnson too 
 frequently acted the reverse of the gipsies: — " The gipsies," 
 said I, " when they steal the children of gentlefolks, conceal 
 the theft by beggarly disguises, whereas Johnson often steals 
 common thoughts, disguising the theft by a pomp of lan- 
 guage. 
 
 cc Happening to be in company with Dr. Johnson, and ob- 
 serving to him that his portrait by Reynolds was not suffi- 
 ciently dignified : prepared with a flat contradiction, he replied, 
 in a kind of bull-dog growl, M No, Sir ! — the pencil of Reynolds 
 never wanted dignity nor the Graces." 
 
 " It is a lucky thing for an artist to be possessed of the favour 
 of the fashionable world ; fortune then shows no objection 
 towards a co-operation with his labours. — Reynolds avails 
 himself of this circumstance ; and, in spite of rivals and a 
 too great mortality of colours, stands his ground like a Her- 
 cules, and defies envy, hatred, and malice ; in short, all the 
 virulent attacks made on his performances." 
 
 It was not always, however, that Reynolds met with such 
 liberality of criticism, particularly from rival artists ; and since 
 the publication of the Memoirs, I have understood with re- 
 spect to Barry,* that when first he showed some dilatoriness in 
 preparing for his lectures, as professor of painting, Sir 
 Joshua made some remarks upon his conduct, to which 
 Barry retorted with great insolence and brutality, saying, " If 
 
 * Mem. page 302. 
 Q 2 
 
CXV1 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 I had no more to do in the composition of my lectures than 
 to produce such poor flimsy stuff as your discourses, I should 
 soon have done my work, and be prepared to read." It is 
 said this speech was delivered with his fist clinched in a me- 
 nacing posture. 
 
 Sir Joshua used to say, that as many of Barry's discoveries 
 were new to himself, so he thought they were new to every- 
 body else. 
 
 Barry should have considered, that if it is a good thing to be 
 wise, it is a very bad thing to think we are so. 
 
 In the life of Barry, page 257, vol. i. will be found an ano- 
 nymous letter to him, containing criticisms on painting as 
 well as on poetry, and on his works at the Adelphi. It is, in 
 my opinion, one of the most excellent critiques I have ever 
 met with. Barry appears not to have suspected who was the 
 author of it: but the writer of his life says, " It seems to be, 
 from every mark of internal evidence, the production of 
 Burke." 
 
 My own opinion is, that it is a combination of the talents of 
 Burke and Sir Joshua Reynolds ; for there are opinions con- 
 tained in it that none but a painter could have given, and which 
 are likewise the very opinions of Sir Joshua: there are also 
 other parts in it evidently by Burke, and which none but himself 
 could have done. Therefore, no doubt remains in my mind 
 as to its authors, to both of whom it does equal honour : nay, 
 Barry himself seems to have felt very grateful for the friendly 
 advice contained in it, and was very solicitous to discover the 
 enlightened author, but in vain. 
 
 As this letter contains so many of the genuine opinions of 
 Sir Joshua, together with many exquisite and useful precepts 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 CXVI1 
 
 for young artists, I cannot forego my desire to give the fol- 
 lowing extracts from it. At the same time, I have presumed to 
 point out the different parts which have been done by each 
 individually, according to my own firm belief: but this is only 
 matter of opinion ; others may think differently. Many parts 
 of it appear to me to have been done in conjunction. 
 
 However, at any rate, it contains too good a lesson to be 
 omitted in an artist's book Avhoever may be its author. It 
 seems but natural that Burke should ask the assistance of 
 Sir Joshua in the affair, as it was always his desire to do every 
 thing in his power for Barry's advantage ; and he was also con- 
 vinced that Sir Joshua could afford him much serviceable 
 advice, of which he here seems to have availed himself. 
 
 " The painter who wishes to make his pictures (what fine 
 pictures must be) nature elevated and improved, must first of 
 all gain a perfect knowledge of nature as it is ; before he en- 
 deavours, like Lysippus, to make men as they ought to be, he 
 must know how to render them as they are : he must acquire 
 an accurate knowledge of all the parts of the body and coun- 
 tenance : to know anatomy will be of little use, unless physio- 
 logy and physiognomy are joined with it, so that the artist 
 may know what peculiar combinations and proportions of 
 features constitute different characters, and what effect the 
 passions and affections of the mind have upon these features. 
 This is a science which all the theorists in the world cannot 
 teach, and which can only be acquired by observation, practice, 
 and attention. It is not by copying antique statues, or by giving 
 a loose to the imagination in what are called poetical com- 
 positions, that artists will be enabled to produce works of 
 real merit ; but by laborious and accurate investigation of 
 
CXVIII 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIPiS OF 
 
 nature upon the principles observed by the Greeks, first to 
 make themselves thoroughly acquainted with the common 
 forms of nature ; and then, by selecting and combining, to 
 form compositions according to their own elevated concep- 
 tions. This is the principle of true poetry, as well as of 
 painting and sculpture. Homer and Shakespeare had pro- 
 bably never seen characters so strongly marked as those of 
 Achilles and Lady Macbeth ; at least we may safely say that 
 few of their readers have, and yet we all feel that these cha- 
 racters are drawn from nature, and that if we have not seen 
 exactly the same, we have seen models or miniatures of them. 
 The limbs and features are those of common nature, but 
 elevated and improved by the taste and skill of the artist. 
 This taste may be the gift of nature, the result of perfect 
 organization, and the skill may be acquired by habit and 
 study ; but the ground-work, the knowledge of limbs and 
 features, must be acquired by practical attention and accurate 
 observation. And here, Sir, that portrait-painting which you 
 affect so much to despise, is the best school that an artist can 
 study in, provided he studies it, as every man of genius will 
 do, with a philosophic eye, not with a view merely to copy 
 the face before him, but to learn the character of it, with a 
 view to employ in more important works what is good of it, 
 and to reject what is not. It was in this view that the great 
 painters of the Roman and Bolognese schools collected such 
 numbers of studies of heads from nature, which they after- 
 wards embellished and introduced in their pictures, as occasion 
 required. Hence that boundless variety which is observable 
 in their works." — (The above by Sir Joshua.) Vide his Preface 
 to Ralph's Catalogue. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 CXIX 
 
 " I do not mean to recommend to the historical painter to 
 make his works an assemblage of caricatures, like those of 
 Hogarth and some of our present artists ; but as there is 
 scarcely any character so insipid that a Shakespeare or a 
 Fielding would not have been able to discover something pe- 
 culiar in, so there is scarcely any countenance so vacant, but 
 that there are some trifling features which may be of use to 
 a skilful and ingenious artist ; though it seldom or ever hap- 
 pens that any character of countenance is sufficiently strong 
 and perfect to serve of itself for the hero of a poem or picture, 
 until it has been touched and embellished by the fostering 
 hand of the poet or the painter." — (Sir Joshua.) 
 
 " Portrait painting may be to the painter what the practical 
 knowledge of the world is to the poet, provided he considers 
 it as a school by which he is to acquire the means of perfec- 
 tion in his art, and not as the object of that perfection. 
 
 (C It was practical knowledge of the world which gave the 
 poetry of Homer and Shakespeare that superiority which still 
 exists over all other works of the same kind ; and it was a 
 philosophic attention to the imitation of common nature 
 (which portrait-painting ought to be,) that gave the Roman 
 and Bolognese schools their superiority over the Florentine, 
 which excelled so much in theoretic knowledge of the art," — 
 (Sir Joshua. J 
 
 iQ I entirely agree with you, that the rage of the inhabitants 
 of this country for having their phizzes perpetuated, whether 
 they are worthy of it or not, is one great obstacle to the ad- 
 vancement of art ; because it makes that branch more profit- 
 able than any other, and therefore makes many men of great 
 talents consider it as the ultimate object of their art, instead 
 
cxx 
 
 SUPPLEMENT 
 
 TO THE 
 
 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of the means of that object. But there is another error on 
 the contrary side not less fatal, which is the contempt our 
 young artists are apt to entertain for the lower detail of nature, 
 and the forward ambition which they all have of undertaking 
 great things before they can do little ones — of making compo- 
 sitions before they are acquainted sufficiently with the con- 
 stituent parts." — ( Burke. ) 
 
 " We are told that many ancient artists bestowed their 
 whole lives upon a single composition — We are not to suppose 
 that these great artists employed so many years in chipping 
 one block of marble, but that the greatest part of the time 
 was employed in studying nature, particularly the vast and 
 intricate branches of physiology and pathology, in order to en- 
 able them to execute perfectly the great works which they 
 had conceived." — (Sir Joshua. J 
 
 " It is not enough to know the forms, positions, and pro- 
 portions of the constituent parts of the animal machine, but 
 we should know the nice changes that are produced in them 
 by the various affections of the mind, as grief, agony, rage, 
 &c. ; without this we may produce splendid compositions and 
 graceful figures, but we shall never approach that perfection 
 to which the ancients arrived : a perfection to which I fear 
 the very constitution of modern society is an insurmountable 
 obstacle. Such a minister as Pericles might perhaps over- 
 come it ; but, considering the present system of education, it is 
 scarcely possible that such a one should appear. To distinguish 
 between what is good and what is bad falls to the lot of many, 
 but to distinguish between what is barely good and what is 
 truly excellent falls to the lot of few ; and it very rarely hap- 
 pens that any of these few are kings and ministers, who are 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 cxxi 
 
 able and willing to reward an artist for giving up his whole 
 time to one object, which he must do if he means to make it 
 truly excellent." — ( The above by Burke. J 
 
 " There is another erroneous principle which seems to have 
 crept into your book, which is extremely general in the 
 present age, and is a principal cause of our faulty taste. This 
 is the confounding greatness of size with greatness of manner, 
 and imagining that extent of canvas or weight of marble can 
 contribute to make a picture or a statue sublime. The only 
 kind of sublimity which a painter or sculptor should aim at, 
 is to express by certain proportions and positions of limbs 
 and features, that strength and dignity of mind, and vigour 
 and activity of body, which enable men to conceive and execute 
 great actions : provided the space in which these are represented 
 is large enough for the artist to distinguish them clearly to the 
 eye of the spectator, at the distance from which he intends his 
 work to be seen, it is large enough. A space which extends 
 beyond the field of vision only serves to distract and mislead 
 the eye, and to divide the attention. The representation of 
 gigantic and monstrous figures has nothing of sublimity either 
 in poetry or painting, which entirely depends upon expression. 
 When Claudian describes a giant taking a mountain on his 
 shoulders, with a river running down his back, there is no- 
 thing sublime in it, for there is no great expression, but 
 merely brute strength ; but when Homer describes Achilles 
 advancing to the walls of Troy, clad in celestial armour, like 
 the autumnal star that brings fevers, plagues, and death, we 
 see all the terrible qualities of that hero rendered still more 
 terrible by being contrasted with the venerable figure of Priam 
 standing upon the walls of Troy, and tearing his white hair at 
 
 SUPPLEMENT. R 
 
CXXII 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 sight of the approaching danger. This is the true sublime ; (he 
 must mean in poetry, for it would not be very sublime in painting; J 
 the other is trick and quackery. Any madman can describe 
 a giant striding from London to York, or a ghost stepping 
 from mountain to mountain, but it requires genius, and genius 
 experienced in the ways of men, to draw a finished character 
 with all the excellencies and excesses, the virtues and infirmi- 
 ties of a great and exalted mind, so that by turns we admire 
 the hero and sympathize with the man — exult and triumph in 
 his valour and generosity, and shudder at his rage, and pity 
 his distress. This is the Achilles of Homer ; a character 
 everywhere to be seen in miniature, which the poet drew from 
 nature, and then touched and embellished according to his 
 own exalted ideas. Had he drawn him with great virtues and 
 great abilities, without great passions, the character would 
 have been unnatural, and of course uninteresting ; for a vigo- 
 rous mind is necessarily accompanied with violent passions, as 
 a great fire with great heat. The same principle which guided 
 Homer should guide the painter in studying after nature. He 
 should attempt to copy, and not to create ; and when his mind 
 is sufficiently stored with materials, and his hand sufficiently 
 exercised in art, then let him select and combine, and try to 
 produce something superior to common nature, though copied 
 from it. But let him not imagine, that because he can pro- 
 duce great things, he can therefore produce good things, or 
 that -when he has covered a great extent of canvas with bold 
 and hasty sketches, he has produced a fine picture, or sublime 
 composition. Such works, compared with the beautiful and 
 animated compositions of the Bolognese school, put me in 
 mind of Claudian's battle of the giants, compared with Virgil's 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. CXXHI 
 
 battle of the bees. In the former all the objects are vast, but 
 the action and expression extravagant and absurd, and the 
 whole cold and uninteresting. In the latter the objects are 
 minute, but the action and expression bold and animated, and 
 the whole together, warm, clear, and spirited." — ( The above 
 by Burke. J 
 
 " I have seen a large cartoon, copied from a little picture 
 of the vision of Ezekiel by Raffaelle, in which the copyist 
 thought, without doubt, to expand and illustrate the idea of 
 the author ; but by losing the majesty of the countenances, 
 which makes the original so sublime, notwithstanding its being 
 in miniature, his colossal copy became ridiculous, instead of 
 awful." — (The above by Sir Joshua. J 
 
 " It is with great concern I have observed of late years this 
 taste for false sublime gaining ground in England, particularly 
 among artists. I attribute it in a great measure to certain 
 compositions, which have been extolled by interested preju- 
 dices, and admired by credulous ignorance, for no other reason 
 than because they were not understood. Few readers take 
 the trouble of judging for themselves ; so that when a work is 
 ushered into the world with great pomp, and under the sanc- 
 tion of great names, its real merits are examined only by a 
 few, the generality being content to admire, because it is the 
 fashion to admire. If the work under these circumstances be 
 pompous and unmeaning, its success is sure, as its pomp 
 dazzles and its vacancy puzzles, both which are admirable in- 
 gredients to procure respect. This I think is the true way to 
 account for the applause and admiration that have been given 
 to those miserable rhapsodies published by Macpherson under 
 the name of Ossian. They were ushered into the world with 
 
 r 2 
 
CXXIV 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OP 
 
 great pomp, as the production of an ancient bard, and recom- 
 mended by the respectable authority of Dr. Blair, aided 
 by all the national prejudice of the Scotch. Few, therefore, 
 were willing to allow that they disliked them, and still fewer 
 bold enough to declare their dislike openly. Hence they have 
 been received by many as standards of true taste and subli- 
 mity, which the author modestly declared them to be. The 
 consequence of this was the corrupting all true taste, and intro- 
 ducing gigantic and extravagant tinsel for easy dignity and 
 natural sublimity. I attribute this false taste to these poems, 
 because I see so many artists who have been working from 
 them, all of whose works are tainted with it ; and indeed it 
 can hardly be otherwise, as the poems themselves (for so they 
 are improperly called,) are nothing but a confused compilation 
 of tinsel and fustian, such as any one might write who had im- 
 pudence enough to publish. Fashionable authors have great 
 influence upon the taste of a nation : Seneca and Lucan certainly 
 corrupted that of the Romans ; and Homer as certainly formed 
 that of the Greeks. Before his time, Sidon was the country 
 of the arts, as himself frequently mentions ; but as soon as 
 that spirit of true taste, elegance, and sublimity, which he had 
 breathed into them, began to operate, they infinitely surpassed 
 all other nations." — ( The above hy Burke.) 
 
 Great as was the genius of Burke, it was impossible for him 
 to have written the foregoing criticism on the art without the 
 powerful assistance of Reynolds ; yet, notwithstanding this 
 proof of the nice discrimination and discernment of Sir Joshua, 
 as an instance of the fallibility of memory respecting his own 
 works, I cannot omit relating a circumstance rather curious of 
 his having totally forgotten one of his own performances, a full 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 cxxv 
 
 length portrait of a lady and her young son, painted by him iu 
 the early part of his life, but after his return from Italy. This 
 was brought to me many years after the lady's death, to make 
 a copy from it ; and in the mean time, Sir Joshua accidentally 
 calling at my house, saw the picture, and very gravely asked 
 me who it was painted by. I answered, " They tell me it 
 was by yourself." He then said, rather quickly, " Why, 
 what have you been doing to it ?" I replied that I had done 
 nothing to it. Then, looking again at the picture, he said, 
 (< Why, I do not think it is very bad." I answered, " I think 
 it very fine, especially the head of the child ;" and this was 
 really the truth. 
 
 Sir Joshua at another time observed to me of an admired 
 rising genius in the art, that he grew worse instead of better, 
 and seemed to have lost himself in his careless execution of, 
 and deficiency in finishing, his works; but added, " It is 
 not an uncommon case with those even who strive to im- 
 prove in their profession ; he is, perhaps, trying experiments ; 
 and, if so, will in time come round again, probably better 
 than ever." 
 
 I have recorded some of Reynolds' notes illustrative of 
 Mason's Translation of Du Fresnoy ;* and it may also be no- 
 ticed that Sir Joshua, in another of the notes, has given with 
 great caution the following opinion : 
 
 " The pre-eminence which Fresnoy has given to those three 
 great painters, Raffaelle, Michael Angelo, and Julio Romano, 
 sufficiently point out to us what ought to be the chief object of 
 our pursuit. Though two of them were either totally ignorant 
 
 * Mem. page 506, 
 
CXXVI 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of, or never practised, any of those graces of the art which pro- 
 ceed from the management of colours, or the disposition of 
 light and shadow ; and the other (Raffaelle) was far from being 
 eminently skilful in these particulars: yet they justly deserve 
 that high rank in which Fresnoy has placed them ; Michael 
 Angelo, for the grandeur and sublimity of his characters, as 
 well as for his profound knowledge of design ; Raffaelle, for the 
 judicious arrangement of materials, for grace and dignity, and 
 the expression of his characters ; and Julio Romano for pos- 
 sessing the true poetical genius of painting, perhaps in a higher 
 degree than any other painter whatever. 
 
 " In heroic subjects it will not, I hope, appear too great a re- 
 finement of criticism to say, that the want of naturalness or de- 
 ception of art, which give to an inferior style its whole value, is 
 no material disadvantage: theHours,for instance, as represented 
 by Julio Romano, giving provender to the horses of the Sun, 
 would not strike the imagination more forcibly from their 
 being coloured with the pencil of Rubens, though he would 
 have represented them more naturally : but might he not 
 possibly, by that very act, have brought them down from the 
 celestial state to the rank of mere terrestrial animals ?" 
 
 Sir Joshua afterwards modestly adds, that, " in these things, 
 however, I admit, there will always be a degree of uncertainty. 
 Who knows that Julio Romano, if he had possessed the art and 
 practice of colouring like Rubens, would not have given to it 
 some taste of poetical grandeur not yet attained to ? 
 
 " The same familiar naturalness would be equally an im- 
 perfection in characters which are to be represented as demi- 
 gods, or something above humanity." 
 
 Sir Joshua further adds : " Though it would be far from an 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 CXXVII 
 
 addition to the merit of those two great painters to have made 
 their works deceptions, yet there can be no reason why they 
 might not in some degree, and with a judicious caution and 
 selection, have availed themselves of many excellencies which 
 are found in the Venetian, Flemish, and Dutch schools, and 
 which have been inculcated in this poem. There are some of 
 them which are not in absolute contradiction to any style ; 
 the preservation of breadth in the masses of colours ; the union 
 of these with their grounds ; and the harmony arising from a 
 due mixture of hot and cold hues, with many other excel- 
 lencies not inseparably connected with that individuality which 
 produces deception, would surely not counteract the effect of 
 the grand style ; they would only contribute to the ease of 
 the spectator, by making the vehicle pleasing by which ideas 
 are conveyed to the mind, which otherwise might be perplexed 
 and bewildered with a confused assemblage of objects ; they 
 would add a certain degree of grace and sweetness to strength 
 and grandeur. Though the merits of those two great painters 
 are of such transcendancy as to make us overlook their defi- 
 ciency, yet a subdued attention to these inferior excellencies 
 must be added to complete the idea of perfection." 
 
 Mr. Opie in answer to this, I think very justly, observes, 
 " Can it be supposed that the Hours leading out the Horses 
 of the Sun, painted by Julio Romano, would have been less 
 poetical and celestial had they possessed more harmony, bril- 
 liancy, and truth of colouring ? Yet this has been supposed, 
 and by a writer whose name I revere, and whose works will 
 be an honour to this country as long as taste and genius con- 
 tinue to attract admiration. But though I respect him much, 
 I respect truth more, which I think will bear me out in main- 
 
CXfCVIII 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 taining the contrary opinion. Celestial objects, according to 
 our conceptions of them, differ from terrestrial ones not in 
 essence, but in beauty ; not in principle, but in power ; and 
 our representations of them should possess all the splendour 
 and effect, as well as all the vigour, spirit, and elevation of 
 character possible. To a certain portion of spirit and character 
 it was doubtless owing, that in spite of, and not by the aid of 
 defects, Julio Romano's horses became the objects of admira- 
 tion ; and had this excellence been joined to the others with 
 which they are always associated in our minds, the effect of 
 the work must have been proportionally greater, and it would 
 have consequently stood still higher in the scale of art. 
 
 " Such paradoxical opinions cannot be too closely exa- 
 mined, as they tend to arrest the progress of art, and prevent 
 those attempts by which alone perfection must (if ever) be 
 obtained. For what is perfection, but the complete union of 
 all parts of the art ; and if they are incompatible, what have 
 we to hope for ?" 
 
 At another time, Sir Joshua, in conversation, gave it as his 
 opinion, that the cartoons of Raffaelle are of a colour most 
 proper for such subjects as they mean to represent ; and that, 
 was their colour a more exact imitation of nature, it would 
 only vulgarise and render them more familiar to us, and lessen 
 the impressive sublimity of their effect. This, at first, seems 
 to be very sound reasoning. But yet, I apprehend it not to 
 be a just judgment, inasmuch as it pre-supposes, that in the 
 absence of this natural and familiar colour its place is sup- 
 plied by an unobtrusive visionary negative hue ; and if such 
 were indeed possible, the reasoning might be good : but, on 
 the contrary, we find a colour positive and unnatural, and 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 CXXIX 
 
 which obtrudes upon our minds the recollection of things still 
 terrestrial and familiar, much more .vulgar and degrading, 
 and more destructive of the awful impression that is intended 
 to be made, whilst the dusky hues of brick-dust and charcoal 
 are forced upon our ideas from their similarity to the tints of 
 the picture. Besides, we shall soon perceive, that if we raise 
 the scene in our mind's eye, we shall have a sublime picture 
 presented to us in a colour, still as far from that positive one 
 of Julio Romano or Raffaelle as it might be from common 
 familiar nature, and without any similitude to coarse terres- 
 trial substances, so as to break the illusion, or draw off our 
 attention from the awful idea. 
 
 Sir Joshua seems not to have reasoned so wrong on the prin- 
 ciple as he is unlucky in the instances he has given ; as it is 
 certain that a positive bad colour, proceeding from an inabi- 
 lity in the painter in that part of the art, ought never to be 
 received as a model of imitation under whatever high authority 
 it may be found. 
 
 Pope, with Dryden's translation of Du Fresnoy corrected 
 by Jervas, sent to that indifferent painter the well-known 
 and most exquisitely poetical letter in which are these lines: 
 
 " Smit with the love of sister Arts we came, 
 
 And met congenial, mingling flame with flame; 
 
 Like friendly colours found them both unite, 
 
 And each from each contract new strength and light. 
 
 How oft in pleasing tasks we wear the day, 
 
 While summer suns roll unperceiv'd away? 
 
 How oft our slowly growing works impart, 
 
 While images reflect from Art to Art? 
 
 How oft review, each finding like a friend, 
 
 Something to blame, and something to commend *:" 
 
 SUPPLEMENT. 
 
 S 
 
cxxx 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 So Mr. Mason, when he sent his translation of Du Fresnoy 
 to his friend Sir Joshua Reynolds, thought it incumbent on 
 himself also " to mingle flame with flame and thus Mr. 
 Mason addresses the great painter : 
 
 " Let friendship, as she caus'd, excuse the deed ; 
 
 With thee, and such as thee, she must succeed : 
 
 But what, if fashion tempted Pope astray, 
 
 The witch has spells, and Jervas knew a day 
 
 When mode-struck belles and beaux were proud to come, 
 
 And buy of him a thousand years of bloom, 
 
 Even then I deem it but a venal crime ; 
 
 Perish alone that selfish sordid rhyme, 
 
 Which flatters lawless sway, or tinsel pride; 
 
 Let black oblivion plunge it in her tide." 
 
 This species of imitation is well described in one of ^sop's 
 fables. 
 
 Sir Joshua was exceedingly willing at all times to lend 
 pictures, prints, or drawings, or any thing in his possession, 
 particularly to young artists ; and he has sometimes been near 
 losing them, by their being seized for rent, or from other cir- 
 cumstances to which the indigence of the borrowers rendered 
 them liable. I do not think he ever denied any one who 
 asked ; he also readily gave his advice to all those who came 
 to seek it, and they were frequently very numerous, inso- 
 much as to take up his time, and make him occasionally 
 rather tart in his answers, but not often. One instance I re- 
 collect of a young artist, who frequently took his pictures to 
 him to have the faults pointed out, as well as those parts of 
 them in which he was successful, in order to his improvement. 
 This artist was desired by another young painter to introduce 
 him to Sir Joshua, that he might have the like advantage, and 
 accordingly they went together with their productions in their 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 CXXXI 
 
 hands. The first showed his work, and received some com- 
 mendations on it from Sir Joshua. When the second artist, 
 who was considerably inferior in his practice to the first, next, 
 with much awe and trembling, humbly displayed his perform- 
 ance, which was the portrait of a female, but Sir Joshua, wiho was 
 very tenacious of his time, and had been too often annoyed by 
 similar applications, hastily exclaimed to him, " What is this 
 you have in your hand ? You should not show such things. 
 What's that upon her head, a dish-clout ?" The poor forlorn 
 artist was so confounded at this first introduction, that he 
 went home, and was literally not able to resume his palette 
 and pencils for more than a month afterwards. 
 
 This circumstance was related to me by the artist who was 
 the introducer ; but I believe Sir Joshua was totally uncon- 
 scious of the effect it had on the young man, or he never would 
 have spoke nin that manner. 
 
 One day when Sir Joshua called at my house, and saw the 
 picture I was then painting, he objected to its colouring, 
 
 saying I had made it too florid ; I answered that Mr. the 
 
 painter had just before been with me, and had observed of 
 that very picture that it was not sufficiently vivid in its colour: 
 when Sir Joshua answered rather sharply, " Look at that 
 painter's works, and thence you may estimate the value of 
 his advice." 
 
 With respect to Sir Joshua's appointment to be principal 
 painter to his Majesty, already mentioned,* it may be added, 
 that at this time, in the month of August, Sir Joshua received 
 a letter from Dr. Johnson, who was then at Ashborne, which 
 
 * Mem. 
 
 page 313. 
 
 s 2 
 
CXXX1I SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 not only shows his great attachment to Sir Joshua, but may 
 be considered as having a reference to the above circumstance. 
 
 " Having had since our separation little to say that could 
 please you or myself by saying, I have not been lavish of 
 useless letters. 
 
 <f Poor Ramsay \ on which side soever I turn, mortality 
 presents its formidable frown. I left three old friends at 
 Lichfield when I was last there, and have found them all 
 dead. I no sooner lost sight of dear Allan, than I am told 
 1 shall see him no more. That we must all die we always 
 knew ; I wish I had sooner remembered it. Do not think 
 me intrusive or importunate if I now call, dear Sir, on you 
 to remember it." 
 
 In another letter, dated September 2d, to Sir Joshua from 
 Johnson, he says, " I am glad that a little favour from the 
 court has interrupted your furious purposes. I could not in 
 any case have approved such public violence of resentment, 
 and should have considered any who encouraged it, as rather 
 seeking sport for themselves than honour for you. Resent- 
 ment gratifies him who intended the injury, and pains him 
 unjustly who did not intend it. But all is now superfluous." 
 
 To what event this last letter alludes is to me unknown, but 
 most probably it refers to Sir Joshua's becoming painter to 
 the King. I know that Sir Joshua expected the appointment 
 would be offered to him on the death of Ramsay, and expressed 
 his disapprobation with regard to soliciting for it ; but he was 
 informed that it was a necessary point of etiquette, with which 
 at last he complied, and seems to have pleased Johnson by 
 so doing, who again wrote, dated September 18th of this year. 
 
 cc I flattered myself that this week would have given me a 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 CXXXII1 
 
 letter from you, but none has come. Write to me now and 
 then, but direct to me next at Lichfield." 
 
 " I have three letters this day, all about the balloon ; I 
 could have been content with one. Do not write me about 
 the balloon, whatever else you may think proper to say." 
 A few days after he wrote — 
 
 " October 2. I am always proud of your approbation, and 
 therefore was much pleased that you liked my letter. When 
 you copied it, you invaded the Chancellor's right rather than 
 mine. The refusal I did not expect, but I had never thought 
 much about it, for I doubted whether the Chancellor had so 
 much tenderness for me as to ask. He, being the keeper of the 
 King's conscience, ought not to be supposed capable of an 
 improper petition. — All is not gold that glitters, as we have 
 often been told ; and the adage is verified in your place * and 
 my favour ; but if what happens does not make us richer, we 
 must bid it welcome if it makes us wiser. — I do not at present 
 grow better, nor much worse ; my hopes, however, are some- 
 what abated, and a very great loss is the loss of hope, but I 
 struggle on as I can." 
 
 I trust I shall be pardoned for giving these extracts from 
 Johnson's letters to Sir Joshua, as they throw light on the 
 characters of both, and contain also the opinions of so con- 
 siderable a judge of mankind as Dr. Johnson. 
 
 Boswell relates, that being in conversation with Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds and Dr. Johnson, Sir Joshua said, that he took the 
 
 * Alluding probably to the place of King's painter which, since Burke's re- 
 forming the King's household expenses, had been reduced from 200 to 50 pounds 
 per annum. 
 
CXXXIV 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 altitude of a man's taste by his stories and his wit, and his under- 
 standing by the remarks which he repeated, being always sure 
 that he must be a weak man who quotes common things with 
 an emphasis as if they were oracles : — Johnson agreed with him ; 
 and Sir Joshua having observed that the real character of a 
 man was found out by his amusements, Johnson added, " Yes, 
 Sir, no man is a hypocrite in his pleasures." I might also 
 add, that much of a man's capacity and disposition may be 
 discovered by his manner of laughing, and the matter he laughs 
 at, without his speaking. 
 
 It was the opinion of Dr. Johnson that the concluding lines 
 of the Dunciad were among the finest lines of Pope, and not 
 inferior to those of any poet that ever existed. 
 
 It was a particular pleasure to Sir Joshua when he got 
 into his hands any damaged pictures by some eminent old 
 masters ; and he has very frequently worked upon them with 
 great advantage, and has often made them, both in effect and 
 colour, vastly superior to what they had ever been in their 
 original state. For instance, with respect to one picture by 
 Velasquez, a full length portrait of Phillip the Fourth of 
 Spain when a boy. I well remember when I entered his 
 painting-room one day, and saw this picture, he said to me, 
 " See, there is a fine picture by Velasquez." I looked at it 
 and greatly admired it, and with much simplicity said, " In- 
 deed it is very fine ; and how exactly it is in your own manner, 
 Sir Joshua ?" yet it never entered into my mind that he had 
 touched upon it, which was really the fact, and particularly 
 on the face. 
 
 The picture also of a moor blowing a pipe or flute, by Velas- 
 quez, now in the possession of Samuel Whitbread, esq. I bought 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. CXXXV 
 
 for Sir Joshua at a picture sale by his desire. When he got it 
 into his painting-room, he painted an entire new back ground 
 to the picture, a sky instead of what was before all dark 
 without any effect ; but with this and some few other small 
 alterations, it became one of the finest pictures I ever saw. 
 
 I have in more than one place* mentioned the high opinion 
 of Dr. Johnson respecting his friend Sir Joshua, who in return 
 had no less admiration of the powers and endowments of 
 Johnson's mind : nor can it be considered otherwise than as 
 adding dignity even to Johnson, when we find that Reynolds held 
 him to be his master and preceptor, as may be seen by a cha- 
 racter he left of him, written with the intention of inserting it, 
 by way of example, in some future discourse, but which he 
 never lived to finish. 
 
 " No man, 5 ' he says, ff like Johnson, had the faculty of 
 teaching inferior minds the art of thinking: perhaps other 
 men might have equal knowledge, but few were so communi- 
 cative. His great pleasure was to talk to those who looked 
 up to him. It was here he exhibited his wonderful powers. 
 In mixed company, and frequently in company that ought to 
 have looked up to him, many, thinking they had a character 
 for learning to support, considered it as beneath them to enlist 
 in the train of his auditors ; and to such persons he certainly 
 did not appear to advantage, being often impetuous and over- 
 bearing. The desire of shining in conversation was in him 
 indeed a predominant passion ; and if it must be attributed to 
 vanity, let it at the same time be recollected, that it produced 
 that loquaciousness from which his more intimate friendsderived 
 considerable advantage. The observations which he made on 
 
 * Mem. page 316. 
 
CXXXVI SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 poetry, on life, and on every thing about us, I applied to our 
 art; with what success, others must judge. Perhaps an artist 
 in his studies should pursue the same conduct ; and instead of 
 patching up a particular work on the narrow plan of imitation, 
 rather endeavour to acquire the art and power of thinking, 
 On this subject I have often spoken ; but it cannot be too 
 often repeated, that the general power of composition may be 
 acquired ; and when acquired, the artist may then lawfully 
 take hints from his predecessors. In reality, indeed, it appears 
 to me that a man must begin by the study of others. Thus 
 Bacon became a great thinker by first entering into, and 
 making himself master of the thoughts of other men." 
 
 It was a further remark of Sir Joshua's, that no man of 
 modern times had so much occupied the attention of the nation 
 after his death as Dr. Johnson. Few men, even the illustrious 
 in their day, dwell long upon our minds after they cease to 
 exist amongst us. 
 
 Liberal as Sir Joshua was to men of other professions, he 
 was not wanting also to those of his own, as will appear from 
 a very short note here introduced. I have not, indeed, 
 scrupled to insert any original letters of Sir Joshua's, although 
 not containing matter of much importance, but merely because 
 such articles are very rare from him, as he greatly disliked 
 the employment of letter-writing, even when obliged to do it 
 on business : the following, however, contains something of 
 advice. It was written to Mr. Charles Smith, an artist, at 
 that time in the East Indies, where he was very successful in 
 pourtraying some of the highest sovereigns of the East, from 
 whom he received distinguished honours. He was the nephew 
 of Mr. Caleb Whiteford. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 CXXXVII 
 
 " Dear Sir,' London, Dec. 3, 1784. 
 
 " I take this opportunity of returning you my sincere 
 thanks for the present you was so obliging as to send me 
 of the yellow colour, which is certainly very beautiful, and 
 I believe will do very well in oil, though perhaps better with 
 water. 
 
 " I hope you meet with the success you so well deserve. I 
 am only concerned that you are so much out of the way of 
 making that improvement which your genius would certainly 
 have enabled you to make if you had staid in England. A 
 painter who has no rivals, and who never sees better works 
 than his own, is but too apt to rest satisfied, and not take what 
 appears to be a needless trouble, of exerting himself to the 
 utmost, pressing his genius as far as it will go. 
 
 <e I saw the other day, at Mr. Bromil's, a picture of a child 
 with a dog, which, after a pretty close examination, I thought 
 my own painting ; but it was a copy, it seems, that you made 
 many years ago. I am, with great respect, 
 
 ft Your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 " Joshua Reynolds." 
 
 At this period of his eminence, and in the year 1785, the 
 Editor of a periodical publication came one morning to Sir 
 Joshua while he was at breakfast. The purport of his visit was 
 to collect particulars, in order to give some account of Sir 
 Joshua's life in his magazine ; but Reynolds being deaf, could 
 not comprehend what it was he required : f ^hen the young 
 lady, his niece, who was at the table, explained the business 
 to him, by saying, " Uncle, the gentleman wants your life ; 
 he is come for your life !" } 
 
 But for the execution of that friendly act- of writing his life, 
 
 SUPPLEMENT. T 
 
CXXXVIII SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 he looked up to Burke, to Malone, or Boswell, as the distin- 
 guished authors who were to preserve his memory in an im- 
 perishable page. Little did he think it would ever fall to my 
 lot to record his years thus imperfectly, or that those fostered 
 friends of his would let him pass to the grave with such scanty 
 notice ; but let no man trust to what his favourites may do for 
 his memory when he himself is no more. 
 
 I think his chief dependance, with regard to writing his life, 
 rested on Edmund Burke, of whom he had so high an opinion, 
 that I have heard him say that even Dr. Johnson felt himself 
 his inferior. 
 
 In this year he painted several very fine portraits, amongst 
 which were those of the Duke of Orleans, who was afterwards 
 guillotined, (this was one of his finest whole length pictures,) 
 and a very fine picture of the Duchess of Devonshire fondling 
 her young child. They were in the exhibition of the fol- 
 lowing year, 1786,* along with several others of his most cele- 
 brated pieces. Amongst these f the Infant Hercules. 
 
 The Infant Hercules, when it appeared at the exhibition, 
 was placed over the chimney ; it was thus the first picture which 
 presented itself to view from the entrance of the room, and 
 had the most splendid effect of any picture I ever saw. I 
 well remember the remark made on it by Hodges the land- 
 scape painter, as he first noticed it in the Exhibition Room, 
 when, from the extraordinary rich tone of colouring, warm 
 and glowing in the extreme, he said, that " it looked as if it 
 been boiled in brandy." 
 
 Barry also gives a very judicious account of this picture, 
 
 * Mem. page 329. 
 
 t Mem. page 330. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 CXXXIX 
 
 which I shall insert. Although Barry cannot rank very high 
 as a practical painter, he was still a very excellent critic on 
 many parts of the art ; and as this capital work of Sir Joshua 
 is now gone from us into a far distant country, and totally lost 
 to this nation, to which in future it can only be known by 
 prints and by description, I am the more inclined t: preserve 
 this record of it. 
 
 " Nothing can exceed," he says, «« the brilliancy of light, the 
 force, and vigorous effect of his picture of the Infant Hercules 
 strangling the serpents: it possesses all that we look for, L.id are 
 accustomed to admire in Rembrandt, united to beautiful forms, 
 and to an elevation of mind to which Rembrandt had no pre- 
 tensions ; the prophetical agitation of Tiresias, and Juno 
 enveloped with clouds, hanging over the scene like a black 
 pestilence, can never be too much admired, and are indeed truly 
 sublime. It is very much to be regretted that this picture is 
 in the hands of strangers, at a great distance from the lesser 
 works of Sir Joshua, as it would communicate great value 
 and eclat to them. What a becoming and graceful ornament 
 would it be in one of the halls of the city of London." 
 
 Reynolds himself, on taking leave of it, previous to its de- 
 parture for Russia,* said to a friend, that " there were ten 
 pictures under it, some better, some worse." Such was his 
 earnest desire to obtain excellence, and his modest opinion of 
 the uncertainty in his practice. 
 
 After Sir Joshua had finished the Hercules, he painted a 
 very fine picture, in the same style of colour, on a three- 
 quarter canvas, of a girl sleeping, resting with her head on 
 
 * Mem. page 331. 
 T 2 
 
CXL 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 her arm. This was one of his richest performances, and was 
 in the exhibition of the year 1787, when Mr. Opie and myself 
 were the managers for arranging the pictures ; and we found 
 great difficulty in placing it, being so powerful in its effect 
 that it seemed to annihilate every other picture that was near 
 it, and the conspicuous part of the room that was before de- 
 sirable was no longer so for any picture when seerf near this. 
 
 One day about this time, I dined at Sir Joshua's, in com- 
 pany with several other persons, one of whom was Dr. French 
 Lawrence ; it was at the time of Mr. Hastings's trial before 
 the House of Lords ; and Lawrence, who was the intimate 
 friend and worshipper of Edmund Burke, had that morning 
 attended the trial in Westminter-hall, where Burke had made 
 a very long speech, with which Lawrence was enraptured ; he 
 repeated parts of it, as examples of the highest possible de- 
 gree of feeling and eloquence, particularly when, describing 
 the mode of torture that had been inflicted on the innocent 
 and unfortunate Indians, Mr. Burke had thus expressed him- 
 self: — " Those cruel executioners had not been content with 
 using the common and usual instruments of torture, but, with 
 a shocking ingenuity, had sought out with difficulty those 
 pernicious weeds which Nature had sown in her fretful mo- 
 ments with which to torment their body and increase their 
 anguish." 
 
 I could not help saying that I thought this speech by far 
 too studied and flowery to be expressive of much feeling, and 
 that the orator seemed to be more occupied in displaying his 
 own eloquence, than affected by the sufferings of those whose 
 tale he told : for those who really feel are not apt to- be so 
 correct, so flowery, and so poetical ; they trust only to the 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLD'S. 
 
 CXLI 
 
 energy of Nature, which is still more eloquent, and always 
 to be distinguished from that in which the orator attempts to 
 show himself off. This remark immediately rouzed the Doc- 
 tor's anger, and he answered in a rage, " It is you who want 
 to show yourself off." I then appealed to Sir Joshua, and 
 asked him if he did not think the speech was studied, affected, 
 and without feeling, and he immediately agreed with me in 
 opinion. 
 
 The picture which Sir Joshua executed of Lord Heathfield,* 
 in the year 1787, was of such extraordinary merit, as to have 
 silenced instead of exciting envy ; assuredly, therefore, I shall 
 be pardoned if I give Mr. Barry's opinion of this portrait. 
 After having bestowed high praise on the full-length portrait 
 of Mrs. Siddons as the Tragic Muse, he thus continues : — 
 " And it is highly probable that the picture of Lord Heath- 
 field, the glorious defender of Gibraltar, would have been of 
 equal importance had it been a whole length ; but even as it 
 is, only a bust, there is great animation and spirit, happily 
 adapted to the indications of the tremendous scene around 
 him, and to the admirable circumstance of the key of the 
 fortress firmly grasped in his hands ; than which, imagination 
 cannot conceive any thing more ingenious and heroically cha- 
 racteristic." 
 
 Barry's general remarks also appear to me to be very just 
 and instructive where he says, " Sir Joshua's object appears 
 to have been to obtain the vigour and solidity of Titian, and 
 the bustle and spirit of Vandyke, without the excesses of 
 either ; and in by far the greatest part of his portraits he has 
 admirably succeeded." 
 
 Mem. page 344. 
 
 9 
 
CXLTI 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Indeed this high commendation was only following an ex- 
 ample set by Reynolds himself; and the following circum- 
 stance is an instance of it.* One evening, at the Artists' 
 Club, held at the Turk's Head, in Gerrard-street, Sir Joshua 
 came into the room, having just before seen a very fine land- 
 scape, painted by Gainsborough, with which he had been ex- 
 ceedingly struck, from its extraordinary merit. He was de- 
 scribing its beauties to the members of the Club then present, 
 and finished his eulogium by saying, " Gainsborough is cer- 
 tainly the first landscape-painter now in Europe ;" when the 
 famous Richard Wilson, the landscape-painter, who was one 
 of the auditors of this high commendation, and who, from an 
 excusable jealousy, felt himself offended, after begging leave 
 to add also to this high character given of Gainsborough, said, 
 " Well, Sir Joshua, and it is my opinion that he is also the 
 greatest portrait-painter at this time in Europe." Sir Joshua 
 felt the rebuke, and immediately apologized for his inattention 
 in making the observation in Wilson's company. 
 
 Notwithstanding this liberality towards Gainsborough, f it 
 was a notion held by Sir Joshua, and which I have heard him 
 declare, " That it was impossible for two painters in the same 
 department of the art to continue long in friendship with each 
 other." This brings to my mind a geographical paradox, as 
 it is called by Gordon in his Grammar, where he says, " There 
 is a certain spot on this globe on which two men cannot stand 
 at a time without quarrelling." 
 
 I must also remark, that Sir Joshua was by no means scru- 
 pulous of openly confessing the gratification he received from 
 whatever species of art or ingenuity came to his knowledge. 
 
 * Mem. page 345. 
 
 f Mem. page 348. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. CXLIII 
 
 He was a prodigious admirer of the invention and striking 
 effect of the Panorama in Leicester-fields, and went repeatedly 
 to see it. He was the first person who mentioned it to me, 
 and earnestly recommended me to go also, saying it would 
 surprise me more than any thing of the kind I had ever seen 
 in my life ; and I confess I found it to be as he had said. 
 
 About this time, a most eminent dramatic character had 
 composed an excellent poem, which he purposed dedicating to 
 Sir Joshua, and accordingly called on him one morning, and 
 read it to him. When Sir Joshua, probably conceiving that 
 praise of his professional powers would be most gratifying to 
 the performer, said, with much simplicity, " I can scarcely pass 
 my judgment on the poem ; you have read it so extraordinary 
 well, that perhaps any poetry so read would appear fine." — 
 The author put the poem into his pocket, soon took his leave, 
 and was not so well pleased as to dedicate his work to Sir 
 Joshua after this species of compliment. 
 
 To compliment any man on those particular talents which 
 the world has acknowledged he possesses, is to him but faint 
 praise, especially when he pants for fame in another depart- 
 ment ; as it has been observed of Cardinal Richlieu, that 
 those who wished to gain his favour succeeded best when they 
 pretended to be enraptured with his poetry, and said nothing 
 of his political powers. 
 
 The mental sufferings of Sir Joshua under the failure of his 
 sight were, perhaps, greater than he was willing to acknow- 
 ledge; and he who, during his former life, had been perpetually 
 and earnestly employed in works destined to delight the world, 
 and add, in part, to the immortality even of the illustrious 
 when represented as he could represent them, being now pre- 
 
CXLIV 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 vented, by the unavoidable infirmities of human nature, from 
 occupying himself in those studies that had raised his name 
 so high, was reduced to fill up the tedious lingering hours, by 
 such humble amusements, as could afford any consolation in 
 a state to him so new. 
 
 Part of his attention was, in consequence, bestowed upon a 
 little tame bird, which, like the favourite spider of the pri- 
 soner in the Bastille, served to pass away a lonely hour: but 
 this proved also a fleeting pleasure ; for on a summer morning, 
 the window of the chamber being, by accident or carelessness, 
 left open, the little favourite took his flight, and was irreco- 
 verably lost, although its master wandered for hours in the 
 square before the house in hopes to reclaim it, yet in vain. 
 
 His inability to pursue his profession did not, however, 
 sour his mind against the increasing fame of his cotemporaries, 
 as appears from his observations respecting the alarming oc- 
 currence at the delivery of his last discourse ;* and such was 
 the opinion of Sir Joshua, in respect to the progress the arts 
 had then made in England, and as he imagined, were still 
 making towards perfection, that, in conversation with me once, 
 he ventured to predict, that the arts would so improve in this 
 country, and in future years arrive to such a state of excel- 
 lence, as that " all we can now achieve," he said, " will appear 
 like children's work in comparison with what will be done." 
 
 I cannot coincide with this opinion, as far as it respects his 
 own works, which I do not think he seemed to rate so high 
 as they deserve. The only allusion to any merit in his own 
 efforts that I can recollect him ever to have made, is once 
 
 * Mem. page 363. 
 
JOHN III'NTKll 
 
 FTSHE1C. SOS. & C" LONIJON 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. CXLV 
 
 hearing him say, " That lovers had acknowledged to him, 
 after having seen his portraits of their mistresses, that the 
 originals had appeared even still more lovely to them than 
 before, by their excellencies being so distinctly pourtrayed." 
 Yet his own opinion of his works was so humble, that I have 
 heard him confess his terror at seeing them exposed in the bright 
 light of the Sun. 
 
 Whether portrait-painting will ever be carried much further 
 than Sir Joshua has carried it, I have my doubts ; but, in 
 respect to the arts in general, I think our countrymen fully 
 qualified to verify the above prediction of Sir Joshua. It is 
 my firm opinion, that had there been the same encouragement 
 and opportunity offered to the arts in this country that has 
 been afforded to them in Italy and France, we should have seen 
 how British powers and talents would have burst forth, and also 
 that laudable ambition, that activity and spirit of enterprize, 
 that good sense and sound judgment, that originality and 
 strength of character, which so particularly mark the people 
 of this empire, that freedom of thinking for themselves which 
 prevents the servile imitation of each other, so constantly 
 found in most other countries, especially in France : when 
 these are all considered, how much more than probable is it 
 that we should have seen such works of excellence and variety 
 produced as*no age or country have ever seen equalled ; and 
 thus Raffaelles and Corregios have arisen to rival the Apelles 
 and Zeuxis of the ancients, as well as a Milton and Shakespeare 
 to vie with Homer and Euripides. 
 
 But this vain hope is never to be realized in our isles ; as 
 no great and adequate cause is likely ever to occur to give the 
 impetus, or to spur genius on to great exertions : and without 
 
 SUPPLEMENT. U 
 
CXLVI 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 some such powerful cause, it becomes a moral impossibility 
 to be accomplished. 
 
 Notwithstanding the great excellence of Sir Joshua's works, 
 many of them were rejected, and others never paid for. Once 
 as I was passing through his gallery with him, he pointed to 
 one of his own paintings, containing a group of portraits, in a 
 picture which had been left upon his hands, saying, with a 
 smile, " Pity so much good work should be thrown away for 
 nothing I" 
 
 I remember a nobleman, when seeing his own full length 
 portrait in the exhibition, which had been painted by Sir 
 Joshua, but was never paid for, expressed his surprize to a 
 friend who was then in his company, that painters should com- 
 plain of any want of employment — cc See there," said he, 
 " that portrait of myself, with many others in this room, 
 proves they cannot want employment." 
 
 He used to say he could not dun persons for debts whom he 
 was continually in the habit of meeting at dinner parties. 
 
 The regard of Reynolds for Michael Angelo,* has already 
 been stated : another artist, of whom he always spoke with 
 high respect, was Nicholas Poussin, although that painter 
 was the very reverse to him in his practice ; and I remember 
 being in company with Sir Joshua and Sir William Chambers, 
 one evening, when we had an argument on Poussin's merits. 
 I expressed my surprize to find him so highly extol the excel- 
 lencies of an artist that he was so totally unlike in his own 
 practice, insomuch as to be absolutely the reverse, and added 
 some opinions of my own, rather harsh, against the works of 
 
 * Mem. page 564. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 CXLVII 
 
 Poussin, to which Sir Joshua would not agree; when Sir Wil- 
 liam Chambers smiled, and said I brought to his recollection 
 the officious character which is always introduced to act a part 
 when a saint is to be made by the Romish church. The office 
 of this personage, who is supposed to be sent there purposely 
 by the devil, and is therefore called the devil's advocate, is to 
 seize every possible objection against the sanctity of the holy 
 character that is to be canonized. He is of course to be con- 
 futed in all his arguments, to the greater glory of the new 
 saint. 
 
 But in vindication of my sentiments in respect to Poussin, 
 I shall here quote the authority of Mengs, as his opinion on 
 this question precisely coincides with my own as far as it goes. 
 He says, " Among the many who came to Rome, (meaning 
 painters,) Nicholas Poussin was he who proposed to imitate 
 entirely the style of the ancients ; and if the customs of 
 his age had not impeded him, he would have obtained his 
 end. Painting always in oil small pieces, took from him 
 the opportunity of enlarging his style, or of executing works 
 of so much study as those of the first men of Italy. Con- 
 sidering, however, his works only as sketches, they are excel- 
 lent." 
 
 Claude Lorraine also appears to have been a particular 
 favourite painter in the estimation of Sir Joshua, as I have 
 heard him say, that, in his opinion, the superiority of Claude 
 in landscape was so pre-eminently excellent, that we might 
 sooner expect to see another Raffaelle than another Claude 
 Lorraine. 
 
 But as to the figures which he so frequently introduced into 
 his pictures, those Sir Joshua did not approve of, but said, 
 
 u 2 
 
CXLVIII 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 that Claude in the attempt seemed, by his work, not to know 
 what he was about. 
 
 Some further opinions of Sir Joshua may be drawn from 
 the reverend Mr. Gilpin's Essays on Picturesque Beauty, 
 (page 34,) who says, " As the subject of the foregoing Essay 
 is rather new, and I doubted whether sufficiently founded in 
 truth, I was desirous, before I printed it, that it should receive 
 the imprimatur of Sir Joshua Reynolds, I begged him there- 
 fore to look it over, and received the following answer." 
 
 " Dear Sir, London, April 19, 1791- 
 
 " Though I read now but little, yet I have read with great 
 attention the Essay, which you were so good as to put into 
 my hands, on the difference between the beautiful and the pic- 
 turesque ; and I may truly J say I have received from it much 
 pleasure and improvement. 
 
 " Without opposing any of your sentiments, it has sug- 
 gested an idea that may be worth consideration, whether the 
 epithet picturesque is not applicable to the excellence of the 
 inferior schools rather than to the higher. The works of 
 Michael Angelo, Raphael, &c. appear to me to have nothing 
 of it ; whereas Rubens and the Venetian painters may almost 
 be said to have nothing else. 
 
 ** Perhaps Picturesque is somewhat synonimous to the word 
 Taste, which we should think improperly applied to Homer 
 or to Milton, but very well to Pope or Prior. I suspect that 
 the application of these words is to excellencies of an inferior 
 order, and which are incompatible with the grand style. 
 
 " You are certainly right in saying, that variety in tints 
 and forms is Picturesque ; but it must be remembered, on the 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 CXLIX 
 
 other hand, that the reverse of this (uniformity of colour, and 
 a long continuation of lines,) produces grandeur. 
 
 " I had an intention of pointing out the passages that par- 
 ticularly struck me ; but I was afraid to use my eyes so much. 
 
 " The Essay has lain upon my table ; and 1 think no day 
 has passed without my looking at it, reading a little at a time. 
 
 " Whatever objections presented themselves at first view 
 were done away on a closer inspection ; and I am not quite 
 sure but that is the case in regard to the observation which I 
 have ventured to make on the word Picturesque. 
 
 " I am, &c. 
 
 " Joshua Reynolds." 
 
 The private exhibition of 1791 in the Haymarket * has 
 been already mentioned, and some notice taken of it by a 
 wicked wit, who, at the time, wished to insinuate that Sir 
 Joshua was a partaker in the profits : but this was not the 
 truth ; neither do I believe there were any profits to share ; 
 however, these lines from Hudibras were inserted in a morning 
 paper, together with some observations on the exhibition of 
 pictures collected by the knight — 
 
 " A 'Squire he had whose name was Ralph, 
 Who in the adventure went his half." 
 
 Thus gaily making a sacrifice of truth to a joke. 
 
 The Catalogue to Ralph's Exhibition was written by Sir 
 Joshua himself, in which some of the particular pictures are 
 well described, and it contains a few remarks useful to painters; 
 as for instance — 
 
 * Mem. page 368. 
 
CL 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 " No. 12. Ludo. Carracci. — A study of a head from the life, 
 
 for a picture of St. Antonio, which is in the church of , 
 
 in Bologna. In the finished picture, all the more minute 
 parts which are here expressed are there omitted ; the light 
 part is one broad mass, and the scanty lock of hair which falls 
 on the forehead, is there much fuller and larger. A copy of 
 this picture seen at the same time with this study would be a 
 good lesson to students, by shewing the different manner of 
 painting a portrait and an historical head ; and teach them at 
 the same time the advantage of always having recourse to 
 nature. 
 
 {e No. 82. Bassan — Sheep-shearing. — At some distance, on a 
 hill, with some difficulty, is seen the sacrifice of Isaac. This 
 is a curious instance how little that school considered the art 
 beyond colouring, and a representation of common nature ; 
 the sacrifice is here made secondary to the common occupa- 
 tions of husbandmen." 
 
 I insert his description of those two pictures of his collec- 
 tion, as sufficient to shew that Sir Joshua could not even 
 barely describe a picture without its being in some degree a 
 useful lesson. 
 
 My own observations, and those of others, respecting Rey- 
 nolds's merits and practice, have been so diffusely noticed in 
 the Memoirs, that little is left for a Supplement to contain, 
 except that he rarely made any drawings, and the very few 
 which he did produce cannot claim notice but from their great 
 scarcity, and for being the work of so distinguished an artist. As 
 to his Academy figures, it would be very difficult to collect a 
 dozen specimens all together, and those few would be found 
 to be poor and feeble. 
 
%IR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. CLI 
 
 When he found it necessary to make any sketches for his 
 pictures, he always executed them in oil colours, in a very 
 slight manner, merely to determine the general effect ; but of 
 those there are very few to be met with. 
 
 Of all the portrait painters who have hitherto flourished, 
 there has been no one whose works were so well suited to that 
 mode of engraving named mezzotinto as those of Reynolds, 
 and a very large collection they make. A catalogue of thein 
 was arranged in the year 1794 by William Richardson, which 
 formed a list of seven hundred prints, some of which are du- 
 plicates. 
 
 The prints from his works, which are chiefly in mezzotinto, 
 certainly form the most numerous collection of portraits that 
 have ever been engraved after the works of one artist. 
 
 I have heard Sir Joshua say that he believed he had covered 
 more canvas than any painter that had gone before him : how- 
 ever, I much doubt this, as Rubens and Vandyke, in this par- 
 ticular, seem to be entitled to the palm : but certain it is, 
 that he has painted two generations of the beauties of Eng- 
 land, and in a few instances three. 
 
 Still it may be observed, that his application to his beloved 
 art was such, that he seldom went out of his house in the day- 
 time ; and if by accident any circumstance obliged him to 
 walk in the street at such hours, it seemed so strange to him, 
 that, according to his own expression, he felt as if every body 
 was looking at him. 
 
 If it were necessary to add any thing further on the merit 
 of his discourses, which, unlike his paintings, were by some 
 supposed not to be all his own, it may be found in part of an 
 unfinished sketch for a Discourse which he had it in contem- 
 
CX.II 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE 
 
 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 plation to compose, as has been before observed, and where he 
 with great humility describes the kind of assistance which he 
 supposed he had received from Dr. Johnson. But a man of 
 genius is perpetually receiving assistance (if so we please to 
 call it,) from every thing he hears or sees. 
 
 " I remember/' he says, u Mr. Burke, speaking of the 
 Essays of Sir Francis Bacon, said, he thought them the best 
 of his works. Dr. Johnson was of opinion ' that their excel- 
 lence and their value consisted in being the observations of a 
 strong mind operating upon life ; and in consequence you find 
 there what you seldom find in other books.' — It is this kind 
 of excellence," he adds, " which gives a value to the per- 
 formances of artists also. It is the thoughts expressed in the 
 works of Michael Augelo, Corregio, Raffaelle, Parmegiano, 
 and perhaps some of the old Gothic masters, and not the in- 
 ventions of Pietro de Cortona, Carlo Maratti, Luca Giordano, 
 and others that I might mention, which we seek after with 
 avidity. From the former we learn to think originally. May 
 I presume to introduce myself on this occasion, and even to 
 mention as an instance of the truth of what I have remarked, 
 the very Discourses which I have had the honour of delivering 
 from this place. Whatever merit they may have must be imputed, 
 in a great measure, to the education which I may be said to 
 have had under Dr. Johnson. I do not mean to say, though 
 it certainly would be to the credit of these Discourses, if I 
 could say it with truth, that he contributed even a single sen- 
 timent to them ; but he qualified my mind to think justly." 
 
 To the account of his death, I have nothing to add. The 
 following notice was given at the time of the sale of his own 
 works in the daily papers, and may to many readers be inte- 
 resting. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 CLIII 
 
 » SALE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS'S PICTURES. 
 
 " These invaluable remains of the great master of the Bri- 
 tish School are 199 in number, portraits finished and un- 
 finished — sketches and historical compositions, studies, &c. 
 affording a complete view of his progressive merits, from his 
 first rude beginnings to a degree of excellence which we may 
 reasonably conjecture will not speedily be equalled. 
 
 " Mr. Greenwood's Room yesterday afforded also a secon- 
 dary pleasure, which the moralist will best appreciate. Those 
 living artists who have done most honour to their great and 
 illustrious leader, attended with fond delay, to behold, for the 
 last time together, his numerous and fascinating progeny. 
 " The magnets of the morning were — 
 
 The Death of Dido, Cupid and Psyche, 
 
 The Infant Moses, The Theory of tire Arts, 
 
 The Duke and Duchess of Mrs. Robinson, 
 
 Hamilton, C. Greville, 
 
 St. John, And a beginning of Puck, 
 
 Hope nursing Love, Ugolino, a head, &c. &c. 
 
 Various spirited sketches of large pictures, and a more splendid 
 example of taste and brilliant colouring than any gallery of a 
 single artist can exhibit. 
 
 " It is no pleasing reflection, that the majority of the por- 
 traits consists of pictures by which the sitters hoped a kind 
 of protracted existence, and which the parsimony and ingra- 
 titude of their heirs never redeemed, by paying up the re- 
 mainder of the artist's price." 
 
 SUPPLEMENT. X 
 
CLIV 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 This seems to have been written merely with a view to assist 
 the sale ; but as it contains some information, I was unwilling 
 to omit it. 
 
 The late display of the labours of this deceased ornament of 
 Britain has already been detailed,* so that I have nothing 
 further to observe, but that the monument to the memory of 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, executed by Mr. Flaxman, is now 
 erected in St. Paul's cathedral, and makes one of the four 
 statues which are placed immediately under the dome ; the 
 others being those of Dr. Johnson, Sir William Jones, and 
 Mr. Howard. 
 
 It must be very gratifying to those who revere the memory 
 of Sir Joshua to reflect, that so attractive were the excellen- 
 cies of his works, without the aid of any newspaper para- 
 graphs, &c. that the exhibition of them brought a very hand- 
 some sum of money to the proprietors of the rooms, and also 
 raised the credit of the British School of Art : and we may 
 rejoice to find, that this scheme having been so liberally en- 
 couraged by the people in general, the same project will be 
 pursued, so that for a very small price to each individual, the 
 public at large may view with patriotic exultation the admi- 
 rable labours of their late illustrious painters, who have con- 
 ferred lasting honour on their country. 
 
 It is also to be remarked that such exhibitions, if thus 
 amply patronized by the nation, the profits from them, ma- 
 naged with skill and prudence, will enable the projectors of 
 the scheme to lend a helping hand to forward the polite arts 
 of England. 
 
 * Mem. page 408. 
 
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 
 
 CLV 
 
 Carlo Maratti used to say, that he considered himself as 
 the heir of the Caracchi, and therefore demanded the high 
 prices for his works which his great predecessors ought to 
 have been paid, but could not obtain. 
 
 In like manner, the large sum received from exhibiting 
 the works of those lamented, excellent painters, our com- 
 patriots, if bestowed with judgment on the living artists, 
 will thus constitute them heirs of their unrewarded prede- 
 cessors. 
 
INDEX TO THE SUPPLEMENT. 
 
 Abington, Mrs. anecdote of, xxxvii. 
 
 Academy, Royal, anecdotes of, xlvi-lii. 
 
 Accident, pictorial, xlv. 
 
 Anecdotes of, Rennel, a scholar of 
 Hudson's, iv— of Mr. Cranck, vi— 
 curious, of early painters, vii— of por- 
 trait painting, viii— of English travel- 
 X lers of Vertu, xi— of an ancient painter, 
 xii.— of Ellis the painter, xvii — of Rou- 
 biliac, xviii — of the effects of painting, 
 xxii — of Dr. Johnson, xxiii — of Sterne, 
 xxxiii — of an epicurej^xxxv— of Mrs. 
 Abington, xxxvii — of the exhibition of 
 paintings, xxxviii — of Hogarth, xxxix 
 epistolary of Barry, xli — of Mr. West, 
 
 J^-xlii — of Queen of Denmark, xliii — of 
 Oliver Goldsmith, xlv — of a picture, 
 xlv — of Royal Academy, xlvi — of Mr. 
 Kirby, xlvii— of Miss Morris, li — of 
 Miss F. Reynolds, lv — of Johnson, Ivii 
 — of Mrs. Siddons, lxi — pictorial, lxvi 
 — of Goldsmith, Ixvii — of Dr. Newton, 
 Ixviii — of Goldsmith, lxxiv— of Gar- 
 rick, lxxv. — pictorial, of Sir Joshua, 
 lxxvii — of Cirachi the statuary, Ixxvi 
 — of a man of taste, lxxviii — of Duchess 
 of Cumberland, lxxviii — of Peter Toms, 
 Ixxxiii — of applauding artists, lxxxiv — 
 of Gibbon, lxxxvi — of Ferguson, 
 lxxxvii — of Literary Club, cii — of Lord 
 Mansfield, ciii — of Dr. Wolcot, cxiv — 
 of Barry, cxvi. — of Mr. Mason, cxxix 
 of Johnson, cxxxiii — various, of Rey- 
 nolds, cxxxvii — of Hodges the painter, 
 cxxxviii — of Dr. Laurence, cxl — of 
 Richard Wilson, cxlii — dramatic, cxlii. 
 
 Barry, epistolary anecdotes of, xli-xliv. 
 
 Barry, anecdote of, cxvi. 
 
 Beattie, Dr.observs. on his portrait, Ixxxi 
 
 Biography, its advantages, iii. 
 
 Burke, Mr. his opinions respecting Sir 
 Joshua, xliii. 
 
 Cathedral of St. Paul's, proposed im- 
 provements, Ixviii. 
 
 Cirachi, the statuary, anecdote of, Ixxvi. 
 
 Colouring of the Roman School con- 
 sidered, IK. 
 
 Cranch, Mr. anecdotes of, vi. 
 
 Criticism pictorial, observations on, lxi. 
 
 Cumberland, Duchess, anecdote of, 
 
 lxxviii 
 
 Denmark, Queen of, anecdote, xliii. 
 Dilletanti Society, embellishments of, 
 Ixxvi. 
 
 Du Fresnoy, thoughts' on, by Sir Joshua 
 cxxv. 
 
 Ellis the painter, anecdote of, xvii. 
 Engravings from Sir Joshua's works, cli. 
 Exhibitions of painting, xxxviii, xlv, 
 
 1, cxlix, cliv. 
 Ferguson, anecdote of, lxxxvii. 
 French painters described by Reynolds, 
 
 xix. 
 
 Garrick, anecdote of, lxxv. 
 
 Genoa, paintings at, xv. 
 
 Gibbon, anecdote of, lxxxvi. 
 
 Goldsmith, Oliver, anecdote of, xlv, Ixvi. 
 
 Goldsmith, anecdotes of, lxxiv. 
 
 Hogarth, pictorial anecdote of, vii, xxxix. 
 
 Hodges the painter, anecdote of, cxxxviii. 
 
 Johnson, anecdotes of, xxiii, xxxiv — ob- 
 servations on painting, lvii, cxxxii — 
 epistolary anecdotes, cxxxiii — some 
 opinions, exxxiv — literary compliment 
 paid to him by Sir Joshua, clii. 
 
 Kirby, Mr. anecdotes, xlvi. 
 
 Lawrence, Dr., anecdote of, cxl. 
 
 Literary Club, anecdotes of, cii. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Lovers' opinions respecting Sir Joshua's 
 
 portraits, cxlv. 
 Mansfield, Lord, anecdote of, ciii. 
 Mason, Mr., anecdote of, cxxix. 
 Morris, Miss, anecdotes of, li. 
 Nabob, Indian, anecdote of, lx xviii. 
 Newton, Dr., anecdote of, Ixviii. 
 Opie, Mr., liis critical opinions, cxxvii. 
 Painters, advice to, xc, cxiv. 
 Painting, anecdotes of early English, 
 vii-^-Observations on the art, by Sir 
 -t* Joshua, ix — the Grecian and Roman 
 ■^f, school of ancient, xii — works of art at 
 Genoa, xv — of the French school, xviii^ 
 
 — encouraged by the Duke of Rich- 
 mond, xxv — hints on composition, xxvii^ 
 
 — observations on,isxl — its improve- 
 ment, 1 — anecdotes of, lii — thoughts on 
 portraits, lix — criticisms on, Ixi — pro- 
 posals for St. Paul's, Ixviii — Sir Jo- 
 shua's thoughts on, lxxx., Ixxxviii — 
 marine, thoughts on, c — professional 
 opinions on, cv — opinions on, by Burke 
 and Reynolds, cxvii — critical opinions 
 of Opie, cxxvii — concluding reflections, 
 cxlv. 
 
 Pindar, Peter, his advice to young paint- 
 ers, cxiv. 
 
 Portrait painting, early state of, xvii., xx. ^. 
 — observations on, lix. 
 
 Raffaelle, observations on, xiii. 
 
 Reasons for giving a supplement, i. 
 
 Rennel, Thomas, a scholar of Hudson, v. 
 
 Reynolds, Sir Joshua, first pictoral 
 efforts, v — of his early practice, vii — his 
 observations on art at Rome, ix — his 
 ideas respecting Apelles, &c, xi — ob- 
 servations on paintings at Genoa, xv — 
 conduct on his return, xvi — observa- 
 tions on early portrait painting, xvii — 
 on French painters, xviii — on the 
 
 English school, xxi — his own practice 
 in colouring, xxiv — his rules for com- 
 position, xxviii — painting room de- 
 scribed, xxxii — of his literary efforts, 
 xxxix — Barry's opinion of his merit, 
 xli — becomes president of the Royal 
 Academy, xlvi — his discourses, 1 — ob- 
 servations on pictorial criticism, lxi — 
 his mode of taking pictorial hints,, lxv 
 — his intentions respecting Beattie's 
 portrait, lxxiii — of his theory and prac- 
 tice, lxxx — surprizes his fellow artists, 
 lxxxiv — his general sentiments, lxxxvii 
 further thoughts on painting, xc— -of 
 his professional modesty, c — advice to 
 , ; Mr. Pocock, on marine painting, ci — 
 "'0 vindicated from false criticism, cviii — ■ 
 his opinions, given to Barry, cxvii — 
 thoughts on Du Fresnoy, exxv — his 
 opinions on Johnson, exxxv — further 
 anecdotes, exxxvii — his expectations 
 respecting his own memoirs, exxxviii 
 — sufferings under loss of sight, cxliii 
 his letter to Gilpin on the picturesque, 
 cxlviii — sale of his pictures, cliii — ex- 
 hibition of his works, cliv — conclusion. 
 
 Reynolds, Miss, anecdotes of, lv., ex. 
 
 Richmond, Duke of, his encouragement 
 of the arts, xxv. 
 
 Boubiliac, anecdote of, xviii. 
 
 Shelburne, Lord, anecdote of, xix. 
 
 Siddons, Mrs., anecdote of, lxi. 
 
 Sterne, Laurence, anecdote of, xxxiii., 
 cxii. 
 
 Supplement, necessity for one, i. 
 Toms, Peter, anecdote of, lxxxiii. 
 Travellers, English, remarks on, xi. 
 West, Mr., anecdote of, xlii., xlvii. 
 Wilson, the landscape painter, anecdote 
 of, cxlii. 
 
 Wolcot, Dr., epistolary anecdotes, cxiv. 
 
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M