Reviews (1)

Depends what you're after
I personally think, that these volumes would normally appeal to an art or university library, but the average art lover could find them a tad disappointing for the price. Both volumes are huge - measuring about 12cm wide together on the bookcase; but the text volume is only text and the prints are mostly black and white.
I wouldn't attempt to knock these guys for inaccuracy. They seem to have taken a thorough and methodical approach to the whole subject with the details of each portrait carefully listed and catalogued. However, I do think it's a shame that they didn't go the extra mile and ensure that more of the reproductions were in colour. Reynolds was a superb portrait artist and I don't feel that this catalogue comes even close to really showcaseing his work.
Regarding the colour plates; in the prints volume there are 132 in colour, but a fairly random selection that I think misses a lot of his best portrait work. The rest of the prints are in black and white and listed four to a page. I was also a bit disappointed with the quality of the photography, as I've seen better prints of most of the paintings that I recognised in other publications.
So five stars for the scholarship and research - but in my opinion, for the price, only get it if you really, really love Reynolds. ... Read more

Book Description

This book includes all the surviving letters of Sir Joshua Reynolds,Britain's most esteemed eighteenth-century portrait painter. Reynolds's 308 letters-almostdouble the number included in the last published edition of his letters-are accompaniedby detailed notes that illuminate the correspondence and identify the friends, familymembers, and patrons to whom he wrote.Published for the Paul Mellon Centre forStudies in British Art ... Read more

Book Description

Sir Joshua Reynolds' reputation today rests principally on his portraits, his theoretical writings on art and his role as President of the Royal Academy. Yet in his own day Reynolds' subject pictures were among the most widely discussed British paintings of the century. This is the first book to concentrate on this important aspect of Reynolds' work. Covering the period from 1760 to 1830, it shows the way in which these pictures were inextricably linked to Reynolds' aims and practices as a painter, and to the way in which he was perceived by his peers. ... Read more

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Studies in Romanticism, published by Boston University on December 22, 2002. The length of the article is 13114 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: "Everybody's Shakespeare": representative genres and John Boydell's Winter's Tale.
Author: Christopher Rovee
Publication: Studies in Romanticism (Refereed)
Date: December 22, 2002
Publisher: Boston University
Volume: 41Issue: 4Page: 509(36)

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from New Statesman (1996), published by New Statesman, Ltd. on June 16, 2003. The length of the article is 1259 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Flying colours. (Books).(Book Review)
Author: Lynn Barber
Publication: New Statesman (1996) (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 16, 2003
Publisher: New Statesman, Ltd.
Volume: 132Issue: 4642Page: 51(3)

Article Type: Book Review

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Book Description

A Journey to Flanders and Holland, first published in 1797 in the Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, is his perceptive account of the pictures which he saw in the Austrian Netherlands, the United Provinces and the Rhineland in 1781. The Journey is here published separately for the first time, in a new edition which is also the first to include explanatory notes on the pictures mentioned by Reynolds and to illustrate all those which he discussed in any depth. Harry Mount provides an introduction which sets the Journey in its context and draws on unpublished material from Reynolds's notebooks to give insights into his critical procedures. All in all, this edition of the Journey makes an important contribution both to the history of the reception of Netherlandish art and to our understanding of the development of art theory and criticism in eighteenth-century England. ... Read more

Book Description

This digital document is an article from New Statesman (1996), published by New Statesman, Ltd. on October 6, 2003. The length of the article is 1363 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Portrait of a nation: do we really want Joshua Reynolds's Omai to stay in London? Although treasured as a singularly British painting, this masterpiece hints at seamier aspects of our imperial past.(the back half)
Author: Patricia Fara
Publication: New Statesman (1996) (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 6, 2003
Publisher: New Statesman, Ltd.
Volume: 132Issue: 4658Page: 38(2)

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from New Statesman (1996), published by New Statesman, Ltd. on September 20, 2004. The length of the article is 812 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Unvarnished vision: Michael Fathers explains why the Omai painted by William Hodges is far more arresting than the celebrated portrait by Joshua Reynolds.(Old Masters)(Critical Essay)
Author: Michael Fathers
Publication: New Statesman (1996) (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 20, 2004
Publisher: New Statesman, Ltd.
Volume: 133Issue: 4706Page: 42(2)

Article Type: Critical Essay

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Book Description

Joshua Reynolds: The Creation of Celebrity examines one of England's greatest portrait painters in the social, political, and cultural context of a century that cultivated a very modern notion of fame. This new approach to Reynolds (1723-1792) considers his life and career in terms of a conscious quest for celebrity. Reynolds surrounded himself with the most famous men and women of his time. His portraits served to create, reinforce, and advertise not only his subjects' reputations but also his own. It is, therefore, no surprise that Reynolds made no fewer than 27 self-portraits in which he purposefully perpetuated his well-crafted public image as an artist, an academic, and a knight.

Published to accompany a major Tate exhibition, this book features many of Reynolds's most famous and beautiful portraits. Sections consider the friendships Reynolds cultivated with the famous and infamous figures of his time, among them politicians, courtesans, writers, war heroes, and aristocrats. These flamboyant and influential subjects helped to promote and sustain Reynolds's distinguished career and, ultimately, to secure his enduring popularity with audiences today. AUTHOR BIO: Mark Hallett is reader in history of art at the University of York. Tim Clayton is a former research fellow at Worcester College, Oxford. Martin Postle is a Tate curator and an authority on the art of Joshua Reynolds. Stella Tillyard is the internationally acclaimed author of The Aristocrats. ... Read more