Synopses & Reviews
A deeply researched and elegantly written study on Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792)and#151;Georgian Englandand#8217;s most celebrated portraitist and the first president of the British Royal Academy of Artsand#151;this lavishly illustrated volume explores all aspects of Reynoldsand#8217;s portraiture. Mark Hallett provides detailed, compelling readings of Reynoldsand#8217;s most celebrated and striking works, investigating the ways in which they were appreciated and understood in his own lifetime. Recovering the artistand#8217;s dynamic interaction with his sitters and patrons, and revealing the dramatic impact of his portraits within the burgeoning exhibition culture of late-18th-century London, Hallett also unearths the intimate relationship between Reynoldsand#8217;s paintings and graphic art. and#160;Reynolds: Portraiture in Action offers a new understanding of the artistand#8217;s career within the extremely competitive London art world and takes readers into the engrossing debates and controversies that captivated the city and its artists.and#160;
Review
andlsquo;Mark Hallettandrsquo;s Reynolds: Portraiture in Action is the fullest, best and most readable account of Reynoldsandrsquo; development as a portrait artist in decades, and the book is expensive because its many illustrations keep pace with almost everything that Hallett describes in his well-chosen words.andrsquo;andmdash;Michael Glover, The Independentandnbsp;
Review
andlsquo;[Reynolds] has now been handsomely published by Yale University Press and is a major and deeply serious work, informed by all the latest scholarship in the field of 18th-century studies. . .It is deeply thoughtful about the ways in which Reynolds conceived of his compositions and the most substantial contribution to the study of Reynolds for a generation.andrsquo;andmdash;Charles Saumarez Smith, Literary Review
Review
andlsquo;[An] authoritative and sumptuous bookand#39;andmdash;Christopher Masters, World of Interiors
Review
andlsquo;[A] masterly and pioneering new study of Reynolds at workandrsquo;andmdash;Martin Gayford, The Spectatorandnbsp;
Review
andlsquo;Hallett. . .brings Reynoldsandrsquo;s actions as a portraitist alive on the page. He reveals the inventive energy Reynolds put into the practice of an art form that had come to be stigmatised, and traces the decision-making both inside compositions and between portraits as they were displayed and in relation to their settings. The portraits tell the story; the life, in Reynolds: Portraiture in Action, is in the works.andrsquo;andmdash;Norma Clarke, TLS
Review
and#39;[A] formidable but enquiring study that re-presents Reynolds as the 18th centuryandrsquo;s master painter-portraitist.and#39;andmdash;Stephen Lloyd, Apollo
Review
andldquo;Sumptuous . . . Hallettandrsquo;s reassessment and the bookandrsquo;s wonderful illustrations give one a chance to judge [Reynoldsandrsquo;s] portraits properly.andrdquo;andmdash;Henrik Bering, New Criterion
Synopsis
Elegantly written and absorbing, this lavishly illustrated volume on Sir Joshua Reynoldsand#151;Englandand#8217;s most celebrated portraitist of the 18th centuryand#151;offers fresh insights into the work of this extraordinary artist.
Synopsis
This volume investigates court, country, and city settings as spaces of artistic production and reception in Britain during the political and economic transformations of the late 17th and early 18th centuries.and#160;
Synopsis
The late 17th and early 18th centuries saw profound changes in Britain and in its visual arts. This volume provides fresh perspectives on the art of the late Stuart and early Georgian periods, focusing on the concepts, spaces, and audiences of court, country, and city as reflected in an array of objects, materials, and places. The essays discuss the revolutionary political and economic circumstances of the period, which not only forged a new nation-state but also provided a structural setting for artistic production and reception. Essays cover such diverse topics as tapestry in the age of Charles II and painting in the court of Queen Anne; male friendship portraits; mezzotint and the exchange between painting and print; the interpretation of genres such as still life and marine painting; the concept of remembered places; courtly fashion and furnishing; the codification of rules for painting; and the development of aesthetic theory.
About the Author
Mark Hallett is Director of Studies at The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. Curator of numerous exhibitions at Tate Britain, Hallett is preparing an exhibition on Joshua Reynolds at the Wallace Collection in London for the spring of 2015.