Portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds (PRA). Oil painting by James Northcote, late 18th century

Portrait, half-length, to right, looking to front. The sitter is wearing dark grey velvet coat, wig and glasses.

Bequeathed by John Forster

Extract from Parkinson, Ronald, Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860. Victoria & Albert Museum, HMSO, London, 1990. p.xix

John Forster (1812-1876) was born in Newcastle, the son of a cattle dealer. Educated at Newcastle Grammar School and University College London, he was a student in the Inner Temple 1828 and qualified as a barrister 1843. Began his career as a journalist as dramatic critic of the True Sun 1832; he later edited the Foreign Quarterly Review (1842-3), the Daily News (1846) and most famously the Examiner (1847-55). He was the author of numerous works, notably the Life and Adventures of Oliver Goldsmith (1848) and the Life of Charles Dickens (1872-4). He bequeathed his extensive collection of books, pamphlets, manuscripts, prints, drawings, watercolours and oil paintings to the V&A.
See also South Kensington Museum Art Handbooks. The Dyce and Forster Collections. With Engravings and Facsimiles. Published for the Committee of Council on Education by Chapman and Hall, Limited, 193, Piccadilly, London. 1880. Chapter V. Biographical Sketch of Mr. Forster. pp.53-73, including 'Portrait of Mr. Forster' illustrated opposite p.53.

Historical significance: James Northcote (1746-1831) was born in Plymouth, Devon. He began teaching himself painting whilst he was still in Devon.In 1771 he moved to London to study at the Royal Academy Schools. He was a pupil and resident assistant to Sir Joshua Reynolds, President of the Royal Academy, from 1771 to 1775. Northcote travelled to Italy in 1777. He remained there until 1780 and was elected into Academies in Florence and Rome. On returning to London he worked predominantly as a portrait artist although he also produced history paintings. He was elected ARA in 1786 and RA in 1787. He exhibited over 200 works at the Royal Academy between 1773 and1828, and also exhibited at the British Institution and the Society of Artists. He was principally a portrait painter, but also painted fancy pictures and historical subjects, including several for Boydell's famous Shakespeare Gallery. Many of his works were engraved. Northcote also contributed to the literature on art by writing biographies of artists. He published the Life of Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1813 and The Life of Titian in1830. There is a portrait drawing of him in the V&A (museum number 3007-1876).

The attribution to Northcote of this copy after the Reynolds Self-Portrait dates back at least to the 1893 published catalogue of the Forster collection. Sir Joshua Reynolds (1732-1792) was as a painter and first president of the Royal Academy (founded 1768). He was apprenticed in 1740 to the fashionable London portrait painter Thomas Hudson (1701-1779). From 1744 Reynolds began working in both London and Devon. He travelled to Italy with Augustus Keppel (1725-1786) in 1750. Reynolds stayed mainly in Rome, studying the antique sculpture and old and modern masters there. These works would provide prototypes for his works for the rest of his career. By 1753 Reynolds had returned to London where his portrait of Keppel established his career. From 1769 in his lectures at the RA Reynolds developed his theory of the "Grand Manner", encouraging artists to learn from past examples of art and to work on morally elevating subjects. These ideas had been expressed by earlier artists however Reynolds was the first to deliver them in a clear synthesis. Although Reynolds encouraged artists to paint more highly regarded genres of paintings, ideally History, he remained a portrait painter. During the 1770s he developed within this genre "Fancy Pictures" which create sentimental representations of children. In 1784 he succeeded the artist Allan Ramsay (1713-1784) as portrait painter to King George III (1738-1820).


The original, now in the Royal Collection, Windsor, was painted by Reynolds in 1788. It was in possession of the artist’s niece, Mary Palmer, Marchioness of Thomond (1751-1820) who offered it to George IV in 1812. The portrait was exhibited at the British Institution in 1820. There are numerous replicas, studio repetitions, and copies, notably in the Dulwich Picture Gallery, Iveagh Bequest at Kenwood, and the Wellington Museum at Apsley House (see O. Millar The later Georgian pictures in the collection of Her Majesty the Queen, 2 vols, 1969, cat. no.1008; the V&A copy is not mentioned by Millar). Considering the relationship between Northcote and Reynolds, alongside the popularity of this self-portrait, it is perhaps no surprise that Reynolds’ former pupil chose to make this copy of the painting.

Reynolds was about 66 years old when he painted the original of F.24 in 1788. He painted only one later self-portrait. In a letter to George OV dated 1812, Lady Thomond describes the original portrait of her uncle as "The best portrait he ever painted of himseslf" and James Boswell's opinion was that it was "the best representation of my celebrated friend" (See: O. Millar The later Georgian pictures in the collection of Her Majesty the Queen, 2 vols, 1969, cat. no.1008, p.98).

In this portrait Reynolds wears a dark grey velvet coat, as in the original by Reynolds. The wig, fashioned to imitate the loose curls of natural hair is a concession to his age and can be seen in a portrait painted by Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828) four years earlier. This is the only self-portrait in which the artist has chosen to depict himself wearing glasses. While Waagen interpreted this and the wig as an indication of the sitter’s genius (Waagen, p.376), it in fact reflects that Reynolds was short sited (See Postle, M and Mannings, D. Sir Joshua Reynolds, cat. 22, p.51). The dark colour of the rich fabric of the sitter’s dress has been noted by Aileen Ribero as agreeing with Lord Chesterfield’s (1755-1815) principles “that a man should be ‘well dressed according to his rank and way of life’” (See: Penny, N. Reynolds, p.320). His dress of a high-collared dark grey velvet frock coat and a wide-lapelled waistcoat, allowing the muslin shirt frill underneath shows a modest interpretation of the fashionable style.

References:

Waagen, G. Works of Art & Artists in England 3 volumes, London, 1838, vol. II, p.376.

Millar, O. The Later Georgian Pictures in the collection of H. M. the Queen, 2 volumes, London, 1969, pp.98-99, cat. no. 1088.

Penny, N. Reynolds, London, 1986, pp.320-322.

Mannings, D. and Postle, M., Sir Joshua Reynolds: A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings, New Haven and London, 2000, volume. I, cat. 1870, pp.469-70, volume II, figure 232, p.198.

A copy after a Self-Portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds

This is a portrait of the celebrated British artist Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792). It is the work of James Northcote, a painter and a writer. From 1771 to 1776 Northcote was Reynolds’ pupil and assistant.

Northcote depended heavily on Reynold's painting style when creating his own pieces and many think his paintings executed after Reynolds' death showed more independent character. In 1813 he published the Memoirs of Sir Joshua Reynolds.

F.24