There is no doubt that the best way, or only way, of counteracting this tendency to triviality, to which in an experimental age we are liable, is now and then to have recourse to those primitive and fixed principles of art which are the same in all ages, and obedience to which alone constitutes a passport to the regard of all ages. Only, in order that such principles may be made acceptable and attractive, it is essential that they should be treated with that directness and simplicity which an intimate consciousness of their truth inspires. They are so treated in these Discourses, and the consequence of their being so treated is that just as a reader wearied by the trivialities of contemporary poetry or the arguments of contemporary theology may find rest and refreshment by turning over a page or two of Wordsworth or Thomas à Kempis, so in something the same way at least, though perhaps in a less degree, he may be brought closer again to the reality he had lost touch of in matters of art by turning from the art criticism of the newspapers to the lectures of Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Discourses delivered in the Royal Academy, 1769-1791 (published separately).
Seven Discourses delivered in the Royal Academy (1769-76), 1778. Edited by H. Morley (Cassell’s National Library), 1888.
Discourses of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Ed. E. Gosse, 1884.
Works: Ed. G. Malone, 2 vols., 1797, 1798.
Ed. H. W. Beechey, 2 vols., 1835; 1852 (Bohn). (Works include “A Journey to Flanders and Holland,” Annotations on Du Fresnoy’s “Art of Painting,” and three letters to the _Idler_, 1759, on Painting, and the True Idea of Beauty.)
Sir Joshua Reynolds and his Works (Gleanings from Diary, unpublished MSS., &c.), by W. Cotton. Ed. J. Barnet, 1856.
THAT you have ordered the publication of this discourse is not only very flattering to me, as it implies your approbation of the method of study which I have recommended; but, likewise, as this method receives from that act such an additional weight and authority, as demands from the students that deference and respect which can be due only to the united sense of so considerable a body of artists.
_Delivered at the opening of the Royal Academy, January 2, 1769._
The Advantages proceeding from the Institution of a Royal Academy.--Hints offered to the Consideration of the Professors and Visitors;--That an Implicit Obedience to the Rules of Art be exacted from the Young Students;--That a Premature Disposition to a Masterly Dexterity be repressed;--That Diligence be constantly recommended, and (that it may be effectual) directed to its Proper Object.