Seven Discourses on Art | Page 2

he remained for life.
In 1760 the artists opened, in a room lent by the Society of Arts, a free
Exhibition for the sale of their works. This was continued the next year
at Spring Gardens, with a charge of a shilling for admission. In 1765
they obtained a charter of incorporation, and in 1768 the King gave his
support to the foundation of a Royal Academy of Arts by seceders from
the preceding "Incorporated Society of Artists," into which personal
feelings had brought much division. It was to consist, like the French
Academy, of forty members, and was to maintain Schools open to all
students of good character who could give evidence that they had fully
learnt the rudiments of Art. The foundation by the King dates from the
10th of December, 1768. The Schools were opened on the 2nd of
January next following, and on that occasion Joshua Reynolds, who
had been elected President--his age was then between forty-five and
forty-six--gave the Inaugural Address which formed the first of these
Seven Discourses. The other six were given by him, as President, at the
next six annual meetings: and they were all shaped to form, when
collected into a volume, a coherent body of good counsel upon the
foundations of the painter's art.
H. M.

TO THE KING
The regular progress of cultivated life is from necessaries to
accommodations, from accommodations to ornaments. By your
illustrious predecessors were established marts for manufactures, and
colleges for science; but for the arts of elegance, those arts by which
manufactures are embellished and science is refined, to found an

academy was reserved for your Majesty.
Had such patronage been without effect, there had been reason to
believe that nature had, by some insurmountable impediment,
obstructed our proficiency; but the annual improvement of the
exhibitions which your Majesty has been pleased to encourage shows
that only encouragement had been wanting.
To give advice to those who are contending for royal liberality has been
for some years the duty of my station in the Academy; and these
Discourses hope for your Majesty's acceptance as well-intended
endeavours to incite that emulation which your notice has kindled, and
direct those studies which your bounty has rewarded.
May it please your Majesty, Your Majesty's Most dutiful servant, And
most faithful subject, JOSHUA REYNOLDS.

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY.
Gentlemen,--That you have ordered the publication of this Discourse is
not only very flattering to me, as it implies your approbation of the
method of study which I have recommended; but likewise, as this
method receives from that act such an additional weight and authority
as demands from the students that deference and respect, which can be
due only to the united sense of so considerable a body of artists.
I am, With the greatest esteem and respect, GENTLEMEN, Your most
humble And obedient servant, JOSHUA REYNOLDS

SEVEN DISCOURSES ON ART
A DISCOURSE Delivered at the Opening of the Royal Academy,
January 2nd, 1769, by the President.
Gentlemen,--An academy in which the polite arts may be regularly
cultivated is at last opened among us by royal munificence. This must
appear an event in the highest degree interesting, not only to the artists,
but to the whole nation.
It is indeed difficult to give any other reason why an Empire like that of
Britain should so long have wanted an ornament so suitable to its
greatness than that slow progression of things which naturally makes
elegance and refinement the last effect of opulence and power.
An institution like this has often been recommended upon

considerations merely mercantile. But an academy founded upon such
principles can never effect even its own narrow purposes. If it has an
origin no higher, no taste can ever be formed in it which can be useful
even in manufactures; but if the higher arts of design flourish, these
inferior ends will be answered of course.
We are happy in having a prince who has conceived the design of such
an institution, according to its true dignity, and promotes the arts, as the
head of a great, a learned, a polite, and a commercial nation; and I can
now congratulate you, gentlemen, on the accomplishment of your long
and ardent wishes.
The numberless and ineffectual consultations that I have had with many
in this assembly, to form plans and concert schemes for an academy,
afford a sufficient proof of the impossibility of succeeding but by the
influence of Majesty. But there have, perhaps, been times when even
the influence of Majesty would have been ineffectual, and it is pleasing
to reflect that we are thus embodied, when every circumstance seems to
concur from which honour and prosperity can probably arise.
There are at this time a greater number of excellent artists than were