Sir Joshua Reynolds

Self-Portrait

c.1775

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

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On loan

Musée du Luxembourg (Paris, France): Gainsborough to Turner: The Golden Age of English Painting

Artist: Sir Joshua Reynolds 1723–1792
Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions: Support: 737 x 610 mm
frame: 970 x 848 x 70 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Presented by Robert Vernon 1847
Reference: N00306

Display caption

This is one of Reynolds's most explicit attempts to rival Rembrandt as a self-portraitist. By the time he painted this work, he was the most famous artist in Britain and President of the Royal Academy of Arts. In his lectures at the Academy, Reynolds elaborated a theory of art based around the need for modern British artists to copy the Old Masters. In this picture, his costume, his pose, and the dramatic contrasts of light and dark all refer to the work of Rembrandt. Even the shape of his face is made to resemble the Dutch artist's distinctive, jowly features.

Gallery label, August 2004

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