The UNIVERSAL MAGAZINE for AUGUST, 1792. 81 MEMOIRS of the LIFE of Sir JOSHUA REYNOLDS, Knight, Prefident of the Royal Academy: With a fine Portrait of that celebrated Artist. SIR 6 Having arrived at fome degree of eminence, he was fent, at his own particular request, to London, and placed, in 1742, under the tuition of Mr. Thomas Hudfon, who was the scholar and fon-in-law of Mr. Richardfon, and who enjoyed, for many years, the chief bufinefs of portrait-painting in the capital, after the favourite artifts, his master and Mr. Jervas, were gone off the itage *. In 1750, Mr. Reynolds failed with captain (afterward admiral lord) Kep pel to Minorca. He likewife accompanied him to Italy; and, when at Rome, he painted fome caricatures of the English gentlemen then in that city. This, it is fuppofed, was with their own confent, as it was much the fashion at that time. He painted one, in particular, that is a fort of parody on Raphael's School of Athens, in which all his English acquaintance then at Rome were introduced. This picture, which is now in the poffeffion of Jofeph Henry, efq. of Straffan, in Ireland, is esteemed a great curiofity by the proprietor, whofe portrait it contains, with the portraits of near thirty other gentlemen. In this feat of the arts, Mr. Reynolds failed not to vifit the fchools of the most celebrated mafters, and to study their productions with the greatest attention. Mr. Reynolds returned from Italy in 1753, and foon evinced to what a degree of elegance he had arrived in his profeffion, by producing a whole length picture of his patron, which is well-known by the print, and is thought, by many, to be equal to his later works. This performance introduced him at once into the first bufinefs in portrait-painting, to which he particularly applied himself. Having painted fome of the first-rate beauties, the polite world flocked to fee them, and he foon became the most fashionable painter, not only in Eng * Though Vanloo first, and Liotard afterward, for a few years diverted the torrent of fashion from the established profeffor, ftill the country gentlemen were faithful to their compatriot, and were contented with his honeft fimilitudes, and with the fair tied wigs, blue velvet coats, and white fatin waistcoats, which he bestowed liberally on his customers, and which with complacence they beheld multiplied in Faber's mezzotintos. The better tafte introduced by fir Jofua Reynolds put an end to Hudson's reign, who had the good fenfe to refign the throne, foon after finishing his capital work, the family-piece of Charles duke of Marlborough. He retired to a finall villa he had built at Twickenhain [now Mr. May's] on a moft beautiful point of the river, and where he furnished the belt rooms with a well-chofen collection of cabinet-pictures and drawings by great masters; having purchased many of the latter from his father-in-law's capital collection. Toward the end of his life, he married his fecond wife Mrs. Fiennes, a gentlewoman with a good fortune, to whom he bequeathed his villa, and died in January 26, 1779, aged 78. Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting, Vol. IV. VOL. XCI. L land, land, but in Europe. He refided, at that time, in Newport-fireet, whence he removed, in 1750, to Leicesterfquare. In 1768, on the inftitution of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, for the encouragement of defigning, painting, fculpture, &c. Mr. Reynolds was elected the Prefident; and, about this time, he received the honour of knighthood. In the fequel, he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Society of Antiquaries, and had the degree of Doctor of Laws conferred upon him by the universities of Oxford and Dublin. Having continued, for many years, to enjoy the affluence and fame to which he was fo deservedly raifed, fir Joshua was afflicted, fome time in the year 1791, with a disorder in his eyes, which threatened a total deprivation of his fight. A long and lingering illness fucceeded, which he bore, although at times not without 'defpondency, yet without the leaft mixture of any thing irritable or querulous, agreeably to the placid and even tenour of his whole life. He had, from the beginning of his malady, a diftinct view of his diffolution; and he contemplated it with that entire compofure, which nothing but the innocence, integrity, and ufefulness of his life, and an unaffected fubmiffion to the will of Providence, could beftow. His conduct to his phyficians was fubmiffive and accommodating, even where his own confcioufnefs of the inevitable termination of his difease taught him to believe, that exterior fymptoms, excited too readily by the eager wishes of his friends, were deceptive. He faw his intimate acquaintance daily, and converfed with them cheerfully, without ever once concealing from them the confequence that he foreknew, til within a very fhort time of the period of his existence, which he waited for with an equanimity rarely evinced by the moft celebrated Christian philofophers. In this fituation he had every confolation from family tenderness, which his own tenderness for his family had, indeed, well deferved. He died on the 23d of February 1792. His body was opened on the 25th; when it appeared that his liver, which ought to have weighed about five pounds only, had increased to the enormous weight of eleven pounds; which fufficiently accounts for that dejection, which, as already obferved, was fometimes vifible, and which some friends, who attributed it to the lofs of one of his eyes, feveral months ago, fuppofed that he might have fhaken off. was interred, on the 3d of March, in the cathedral church of St. Paul, with all the honours that could be rendered to the memory of a character, that, confidered as an artist, a scholar, and a man, has done honour to the age and to his country *. He Sir Joshua Reynolds was the firft Englishman, who added the praife of the elegant arts to the other glories of his country. In taste, in grace, in facility, in happy invention, and in the richness and harmony of colouring, he was equal to the great mafters of the renowned ages. In portrait he went beyond them; for he communicated to that defcription of the art, in which English artifts are the moft engaged, a variety, a fancy, and a dignity, derived from the higher branches, which even those who profeffed them in a fuperior manner, did not always preserve, when they delineated individual nature. His portraits remind the spectator of the invention of hiftory, and the amenity of landfcape. How painting has rekindled from its embers,' fays Mr. Horace Walpole (now lord Orford) the works of many living artifts demonftrate. The prints after the works of fir Joshua Reynolds have fpread his fame to Italy, where they have not at prefent a fingle painter, who can pretend to rival an imagination fo fertile, that the attitudes of * See an Account of his Funeral in our Magazine for March, page 233. his portraits are as various as those of portrait-painting from infipidity, and would have excelled the greatest mafters in that branch, if his colouring were as lifting, as his tafte and imagination are inexhaustible.' history. In what age were paternal defpair, and the horrors of death pronounced with more expreffive accents than in his picture of count Ugolino? When was infantine lovelinefs, or the embrio-paffions, touched with fweeter truth, than in his portraits of mifs Price and the baby Jupiter? Sir joshua Reynolds,' adds Mr. Walpole, has been accused of plagiarifm, for having borrowed attitudes from ancient masters. Not only candour, but criticism, muft deny the force of the charge. When a fingle posture is imitated from an hiftoric picture, and applied to a portrait in a different dress, and with new attributes, this is not plagiarism, but quotation: and a quotation from a great author, with a novel application of the fenfe, has always been allowed to be an intance of parts and tafle, and may have more merit than the original. When the fons of Jacob impofed on their father by a falíe coat of Jofeph, faying, Know now whether this be thy fon's coat or not?' they only asked a deceitful question-but that interrogation became wit, when Richard I, on the pope reclaiming a bit: op whom the king had taken prifoner in battle, fent him the prelate's coat of mail, and in the words of fcripture asked his holiness, whether that was the coat of his fon or not?Is there not humour and fatire in fir Joshua's reducing Holbein's fwaggering and coloffa. haughtinefs of Henry VIII, to the boyish jollity of mafter Crewe?-One prophecy I will venture to make: fir Joshua is not a plagiary, but will beget a thoufand. The exuberance of his invention will be the grammar of future painters of por traits.' Though fir Joshua Reynolds cutivated principally his talent for portraits, it is eafy to perceive, from the fpecimens he at intervals produced, that, if he had fuppofed the hiftorical. department equally eligible, in a country where his good fenfe very early pointed out it was not likely to be fufficiently encouraged, he would have been no lefs diftinguished for his hiftory pieces than for portraits. The principal historical paintings of fir Jofhua, that we can recollect, are, Hope nurfing Love; Venus challifing Cupid for having learned to cast accounts; the ftory of count Ugolino from Dante; a Gipfey telling fortunes; an infant Jupiter; the calling of Samuel; the death of Dido; the Nativity; the four cardinal Virtues, with Faith, Hope, and Charity, for New College Chapel, Oxford; Cupid and Píyche; Cymon and Iphigenia; the Infant Academy; the Continence of Scipio; the Holy Family, fold to Mr. Macklin; Tuccia, fold to the fame perfon; Venus and Cupid; the death of cardinal Beaufort; Mrs. Siddons as the tragic mufe; Hercules ftrangling the Serpents, which he painted for the emprefs of Ruffia; and the cauldron scene in Macbeth, for Mr. alderman Eoydel. He alfo painted a few landscapes. His picture for the Chapel of New College, Oxford, gave occafion to fome complimentary verfes, that were published in a quarto pamphlet: Not of its pomp to ftrip this ancient shrine, But bid that pomp with purer radiance hine: With arts unknown before, to reconcile The emprefs of Ruffia, whofe encouragement of the fine arts has been for the general happiness of mankind, more confpicuous than her folicitude prefented fir Joshua Reynolds with her picture, fet with diamonds. Thus, in the full poffeffion of foreign and domeftic fame, admired by the skilful and learned, courted by the great, careffed by fovereign powers, and celebrated by diftinguifhed poets, his native humility, modefty, and candour never forfook him even on furprize or provocation; nor was the leaft degree of arrogance visible to the moft fcrutinizing eye, in any part of his conduct or converfation. His tain all the relations of life, rendered lents of every kind, his focial virtues him the centre of many agreeable focieties, which will be diffipated by his death. He had too much merit not to excite fome jealoufy, too much innocence to provoke any enmity. In a word, to a thorough skill in his profeffion, fir Joshua Reynolds added the literature of a scholar, the knowledge of a philofopher, and the manners of a gentleman. Of the first, his Anniversary Difcourfes delivered to the Royal Academy have exhibited his numerous furviving friends will indifputable proofs; and of the latter, long retain the recollection.-Goldfmith's character of him, in his witty poem, Retaliation,' was never difputed: Here Reynolds is laid*, and, to tell you my mind, He has not left a wifer or better behind. His pencil was striking, refiftlefs, and grand; His manners were gentle, compliant, and bland: * In this Poem, the author was fuppofed to write the epitaphs of fome of his particular friends; to which he was challenged, by way of Retaliation, they having previously propofed to write epitaphs on himself. Still born to improve us in every part, heart: To coxcombs averfe, yet most civilly fteering, When they judg'd without skill he was ftill hard of hearing: He fhifted his trumpet †, and only took It may not be improper to add here, the prices, which, at different periods, fir Joshua Reynolds fixed on his portraits: about the year 1755, for a head, twelve guineas; foon after 1760, twenty-five guineas; about the year 1770, thirty-five guineas; from 1779. till he ceafed to paint, fifty guineas; and, for half and whole lengths, in proportion. General OBSERVATIONS on the TARTARIAN NATIONS. [From Travels into Norway, Denmark, and Ruffia, in 1788, 1789, 1790, and 1791. By A. Swinton, Efq.] TH HE Ruffians, not many hundred years ago, were in the fame ftate as the Tartars now are; and even after they fettled in the Country of Mofcovy, they continued under bondage to the Tartar nations, who furrounded them upon all fides. The czar Ivan Vafilivitsch I, released his people from this degrading fituation, and his fucceffor, Ivan Vafilivitfch II, effectually rooted out thofe freebooters, and over-awed them in their turn, From this period, the Ruffian monarchs extended their conquests, and, by a rapid progress, the vaft regions from the banks of the Nieper to Kamfchatka, which views, from its fhores, the American mountains, a space of four thousand miles, acknowledged their fceptre. The moft northerly parts of Siberia are inhabited by Fins, and Tartar tribes, in the lowest ftate of civilization; the fouthern provinces border upon Tartary, properly fo called. There are many of the Tartars fill independent, if we call by that name the liberty of running from the protection of one fovereign to that of another. The Ruffian government give them every encouragement to fettle in Siberia, and in the kingdoms of Casan and Aftrakan; and the Tartars begin to fhew a difpofition to become hufbandmen. The Kalmuc hordes are the most obftinate: they dwell near the Wolga, and maintain themselves by fishing, and with their flocks and herds. They refuse the name of Tartars, because the word fignifies a vagrant. The Kalmucs are esteemed by the other tribes as a fuperior clafs; the Kirgees are much inferior in character, as well as in wealth: yet I could not help looking with veneration upon our Scythian fathers, though in rags. The Kalmucs deny them. The Kirgees, Bafkeers, and other Tartars, deny the Fins-the Fins deteft the Laplanders; and the Laplanders, buried in their earthen caves, esteem themselves of divine origin. This is the best ridicule of family pride and connections that I have met with. The Fins are quiet and industrious, and confequently fuperior, in fome refpects, to all the others. . But,' fay the Kalmucs, they are farmers— they till the ground-they are clowns: we are huntfinen and warriors, the immediate defcendants of Zinghis Khan and Tamerlane, conquerors of India and China !' The Tartars are at this day divided into four grand divifions: the first inhabit their native plains of Tartary, under their Khans; the fecond are mixed with Chinese, under the fame government of laws; the third having fubmitted to the government of Ruffia, or to its protection, dwell in Siberia, and upon the banks of the Wolga; the fourth acknowledge the Sir Joshua being deaf, was constantly obliged to use an acoustic or ear-trumpet. 6 Sultan |