Art in its perfection is not ostentatious; it lies hid and works its effect, itself unseen. — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
The excellence of every art, must consist in the complete accomplishment of its purpose — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
A passion for his art, and an eager desire to excel, will more than supply an artist with the place of method. — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
The great end of all arts is to make an impression on the imagination and the feeling. The imitation of nature frequently… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
The art of seeing nature, or, in other words, the art of using models, is in reality the great object, the point… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
If deceiving the eye were the only business of the art... the minute painter would be more apt to succeed. But it… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
What has pleased and continues to please, is likely to please again; hence are derived the rules of art, and on this… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
Genius is supposed to be a power of producing excellences which are put of the reach of the rules of art: a… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
I wish you to be persuaded that success in your art depends almost entirely on your own industry; but the industry which… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
The value and rank of every art is in proportion to the mental labor employed in it, or the mental pleasure in… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
In the practice of art... it is necessary to keep a watchful and jealous eye over ourselves; idleness, assuming the specious disguise… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
An artist who brings to his work a mind tolerably furnished with the general principles of art, and a taste formed upon… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
A painter must not only be of necessity an imitator of the works of nature... but he must be as necessarily an… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
The first degree of proficiency is, in painting, what grammar is in literature, a general preparation for whatever the student may afterward… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
Gardening as far as Gardening is Art, or entitled to that appellation, is a deviation from nature; for if the true taste… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
The general ideas which are expressed in sketches, correspond very well to the art often used in poetry... every reader making out… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
Those who are not conversant in works of art are often surprised at the high value set by connoisseurs on drawings which… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
Poetry operates by raising our curiosity, engaging the mind by degrees to take an interest in the event, keeping that event suspended,… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
Style in painting is the same as in writing; a power over materials, whether words or colors, by which conceptions or sentiments… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
The true test of all the arts is not solely whether the production is a true copy of nature, but whether it… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
No art can be grafted with success on another art. For though they all profess the same origin, and to proceed from… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
Every art, like our own, has in its composition fluctuating as well as fixed principles. It is an attentive inquiry into their… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
It is to Titian we must turn our eyes to find excellence with regard to color, and light and shade, in the… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
A painter must compensate the natural deficiencies of his art. He has but one sentence to utter, but one moment to exhibit.… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
While I recommend studying the art from artists, Nature is and must be the fountain which alone is inexhaustible, and from which… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
Words should be employed as the means, not the end; language is the instrument, conviction is the work. — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
Grandeur of effect is produced by two different ways which seem entirely opposed to each other. One is by reducing the colors to little… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
And he who does not know himself does not know others, so it may be said with equal truth, that he who does not… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
If you have great talents, industry will improve them: if you have but moderate abilities, industry will supply their deficiency. — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
The general ideas which are expressed in sketches, correspond very well to the art often used in poetry... every reader making out the detail… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
All the gestures of children are graceful; the reign of distortion and unnatural attitudes commences with the introduction of the dancing master. — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
Our studies will be forever, in a very great degree, under the direction of chance; like travelers, we must take what we can get,… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
Style in painting is the same as in writing; a power over materials, whether words or colors, by which conceptions or sentiments are conveyed. — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
The distinct blue, red, and yellow colors... though they have not the kind of harmony which is produced by a variety of broken and… — Joshua Reynolds Copy Share Image
