Nacido en Plympton, Devon, Reynolds se formó con el retratista Thomas Hudson antes de pasar más de dos años en Roma a partir de 1749, estudiando a los grandes maestros y asimilando el «gran estilo» que dedicaría su carrera a adaptar al retrato inglés — posando a sus modelos como figuras clásicas o mitológicas en lugar de limitarse a captar su parecido.
En 1768 se convirtió en miembro fundador y primer presidente de la Royal Academy, cargo desde el que pronunció sus influyentes «Discursos» sobre teoría del arte, y ese mismo año Jorge III lo nombró caballero. Reynolds dominó el retrato inglés durante el resto del siglo, elevando un oficio antes visto como mero artesanado a la categoría de profesión culta. Murió en Londres en 1792.
Cuadros de Reynolds expuestos, museo por museo
El Art Institute of Chicago
- Lady Sarah Bunbury Sacrificing to the Graces — Gallery 218 (1763–65)
El Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
- Charity — Gallery 52 (1777)
- Charles Fitzroy, 2nd Duke of Grafton (1755 - 1757)
- George, 2nd Earl Harcourt, his wife Elizabeth, and brother William — Gallery 44 (1780)
- James Paine, Architect, and his Son, James — Gallery 49 (1764)
- Miss Elizabeth Keppel, later Mrs Thomas Meyrick — Gallery 52 (1782)
- Sketch for a Portrait of Captain Philemon Pownall, R.N — Gallery 52 (1762)
- Sketch of Sir Abraham Hume (1783 - 1833)
El Cleveland Museum of Art
- Portrait of the Ladies Amabel and Mary Jemima Yorke — 203A British Painting and Decorative Arts (c. 1761)
Dulwich Picture Gallery, Londres
- Margaret Desenfans (neé Morris) — Room 3 (1757)
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
- The Braddyll Family — Gallery 3 (1789)
El Louvre
- Portrait de Francis George Hare (1786-1842) dit Master Hare et dit aussi Infancy — Salle 713 (4e quart du XVIIIe siècle (1788 - 1789))
- Portrait de Sir William Chambers (XVIIIe siècle (1700 - 1800))
El Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nueva York
National Galleries of Scotland, Edimburgo
- John Hope, 1739 - 1785. — Modern One (In Storage) (1769)
- John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore — Portrait (On Display) (1765)
- Professor Adam Ferguson [Adhamh MacFhearghais], 1723 - 1816. Philosopher and author — Portrait (On Display) (1781/2)
- Sir William Forbes of Pitsligo, 1739 - 1806. Banker and author — Portrait (On Display) (1786)
- The Ladies Waldegrave — National (On Display) (1780)
La National Gallery, Londres
- Anne, 2nd Countess of Albemarle — Room 34 (About 1760)
- Captain Robert Orme — Room 34 (1756)
- Lady Cockburn and her Three Eldest Sons — Room 34 (1773)
La National Portrait Gallery, Londres
- Anne Seymour Damer (née Conway) — Bath Preservation Trust, Bath (oil on canvas, based on a work of 1772-1773)
- Augustus Keppel, Viscount Keppel — Room 10 (oil on canvas, 1764-1765)
- David Garrick; Eva Maria Garrick (née Veigel) — Room 18 (oil on canvas, 1772-1773)
- Edmund Burke — Room 12 (oil on canvas, circa 1769 or after)
- Edward Boscawen — Hatchlands Park, Guildford (oil on canvas, based on a work of circa 1755)
- Horace Walpole — Room 18 (oil on canvas, circa 1756-1757)
- James Boswell — Room 18 (oil on canvas, 1785)
- John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute — Room 18 (oil on canvas, 1773)
- Mai (Omai) — The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, USA (oil on canvas, circa 1776)
- Maria Anne Fitzherbert (née Smythe) — Room 15 (oil on canvas, circa 1788)
- Oliver Goldsmith — Room 18 (oil on canvas, circa 1770 or after)
- Samuel Johnson — Room 3 (oil on canvas, circa 1756)
- Sir Joseph Banks, Bt — Room 18 (oil on canvas, 1771-1773)
- Sir Joshua Reynolds — Room 18 (oil on canvas, circa 1747-1749)
- Sir William Chambers — Room 18 (oil on canvas, circa 1756)
- Warren Hastings — Room 10 (oil on canvas, 1766-1767)
- William (Thomas) Beckford — Room 17 (oil on canvas, 1782)
La National Gallery of Art, Washington
- John Musters — M-059 (1777-c. 1780)
- Lady Caroline Howard — M-058 (1778)
- Lady Elizabeth Delmé and Her Children — M-059 (1777-1779)
Royal Museums Greenwich, Londres
- Admiral Francis Holburne, 1704-71, and his son, Sir Francis, 4th Baronet, 1752-1820 — QH (1756)
- Captain Alexander Hood, 1726-1814 — QH (1763)
- Captain the Honourable Augustus Keppel, 1725-86 — QH (1752-1753)
- Commodore Sir William James, 1722-83 — Traders Gallery (1784)
- Portrait of a Naval Lieutenant, 1749 — QH (circa 1749)
La Tate Britain, Londres
- Colonel Acland and Lord Sydney: The Archers — The Exhibition Age 1760-1815 (Room 4) (1769)
- Lady Bampfylde — Troubled Glamour 1760-1830 (Room 5) (1776–7)
- Mrs Hartley as a Nymph with a Young Bacchus — The Exhibition Age 1760-1815 (Room 4) (exhibited 1773)
- Portrait of a Man, probably Francis Barber — Troubled Glamour 1760-1830 (Room 5)
- The Age of Innocence — The Exhibition Age 1760-1815 (Room 4) (?1788)
- The Hon. Miss Monckton — Troubled Glamour 1760-1830 (Room 5) (1777–8)
- Three Ladies Adorning a Term of Hymen — The Exhibition Age 1760-1815 (Room 4) (1773)
Victoria and Albert Museum, Londres
- Sarah Wedgwood — Room 1 (1782)
Salas y estado de exposición verificados en la base de colecciones de cada museo.
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