Sir Joshua Reynolds’ Memoranda on Painting – December 1755

Gilbert Stewart – Sir Joshua Reynolds

 

SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS‘ WORKING COLOURS, WITH

THE ORDER IN WHICH THEY WERE ARRANGED

ON HIS PALLETTE.

For painting the flesh, black, blue black, white, lake, carmine, orpiment, yellow ochre, ultramarine, and varnish.

“To lay the pallette:—first lay carmine and white in different degrees: second, lay orpiment and white, ditto: third lay blue black and white, ditto.

“The first sitting, make a mixture on the pallette for expedition, as near the sitter’s complexion as you can.

HIS OBSERVATIONS ON COLOURING.

“To preserve the colours fresh and clean in painting: it must be done by laying on more colours, and not by rubbing them in when they are once laid; and if it can be done, they should be laid just in their proper places at first, and not be touched again, because the freshness of the colours is tarnished and lost, by mixing and jumbling them together; for there are certain colours which destroy each other by the motion of the pencil when mixed to excess.

“For it may be observed, that not only is the brilliancy, as well as freshness of tints and considerably impaired, by indiscriminate mixing and softening ; but if colours be too much worked about the with the brush, the oil will always rise to the surface, and the performance will turn comparatively yellow in consequence.

HIS INSTRUCTIONS IN PAINTING TO THE STUDENT.

“Never give the least touch with your pencil, until you have present in your mind, a perfect idea of your future work.

“Paint at the greatest possible distance from your sitter, and place the picture occasionally near to the sitter, or sometimes under him, so as to see both together.

“In beautiful faces, keep the whole circumference about the eye in a mezzotinto, as seen in the works of Guido, and the best of Carlo Maratti.

“Endeavour to look at the subject, or sitter before you, as if it was a picture ; this will in some degree render it more easy to be copied.

“In painting, consider the object before you, whatever it may be, as made out more by light and shadows, than by lines.

“A student should begin he career, by a careful finishing and making out of the parts, as practice will give him freedom and facility of hand ; a bold and unfinished manner is generally the habit of old age.

ON PAINTING A HEAD

“Let those parts, which turn or retire from the eye, be of broken or mixed colours, as being less distinguished, and nearer the borders.

“Let all your shadows be of one colour ; glaze them till they are so.

“Use red colours in the shadows of the most delicate complexions, but with discretion.

“Contrive to have a skreen, with red or yellow colour on it, to reflect the light on the sitter’s face.

“Avoid the chalk, the brick dust, and the charcoal, and think on a pearl, and a ripe peach.

“Avoid long continued lines in the eyes, and too many sharp ones.

“Take care to give your figure a sweep or sway with the outlines in waves, soft, and almost imperceptible against the back ground.

“Never make the contour too coarse.

“Avoid also those outlines and lines which are equal, which make parallels, triangles, &c.

“The parts which are nearest to the eye appear most enlightened, deeper shadowed, and better seen.

“Keep broad lights and shadows, and also principal lights and shadows.

“Where there is a the deepest shadow, it is accompanied by the brightest light.

“Let nothing start out, or be too strong for its place.

“Squareness has grandeur ; it gives firmness to the forms : a serpentine line, in comparison, appears feeble and tottering.

“The younger pupils are better taught by those who are in a small degree advanced in knowledge above themselves ; and from that cause proceeds the peculiar advantage of studying in academies.

“The painter who knows his profession from principles, may apply them alike to any branch of the art, and succeed in it.

ON THE EXAMINATION OF PICTURES.

“After a strict examination of the best pictures, the benefit to be derived from them is to draw such conclusions as may serve in future as fixed rules of practice, taking care not to be amused with trifles, but to regard the excellencies chiefly.

“These are some who are very diligent in examining picture, and yet are not at all advanced in their judgment, although they can remember the exact colour of every figure, &c., in the picture ; but not reflecting deeply on what they have seen, or making observations to themselves, they are not at all improved by the crowd of particulars that swim on the surface of their brains, as nothing enters deep enough into their minds to do them benefit through digestion.

“A painter should from his rules from pictures rather than from books or precepts ; this is having information at the first hand,—at the fountainhead.  Rules were first made from pictures ; not pictures from rules.  The first compilers of rules for painting were in the situation in which it is desirable a student should be.  Thus every picture an artist sees, whether the most excellent or most ordinary, he should consider from whence that fine effect, or that ill effect, proceeds; and then there is not picture, ever so indifferent, but he may look at to his profit.

“The manner of the English travellers in general, and especially those who pique themselves on studying virtu, is that, instead of examining the beauties of the works of fame, and why they are esteemed, they only inquire the subject of the picture, and the name of the painter, the history of a statue, and where it was found, and then write that down.  Some Englishmen, while I was in the Vatican, came there and spent above six hours in writing down whatever the antiquary detailed to them ; they scarcely ever looked at the paintings the whole time.” 1

1Our readers will please to recollect that this just, but by no means complimentary, description of English travellers, was written in the interval between 1749 and 1752, the period during which Mr. Reynolds was in Italy ; but ninety years must make a great change in the information and manners of any civilized nation.  That sketch would not now have much more resemblance, we should think, to the manners of our present race of travellers, than Hogarth’s dresses of the same period have to our present costume.

Source: Original Observations on the Rise and Progress of British Art, The French and English Chromatic Scales, and Theories of Colouring by W.B. Sarfield Taylor, Senior Curator of the Living Model Academy, &c, &c

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Highlander Bible

Carpet Cleaner Formulae

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Antibiotic Properties of Jungle Soil

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https://archive.org/details/why-beauty-matters-roger-scruton

or Click here to watch

[...] Read more →

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Dec. 24, 1898 Forest and Stream Pg. 513-514

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Above we find,

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Fed Policy Success Equals Tax Payers Job Insecurity

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Money Saving Recipe for Gold Leaf Sizing

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A Summer Memory

 

Here, where these low lush meadows lie, We wandered in the summer weather, When earth and air and arching sky, Blazed grandly, goldenly together.

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Click here to read The First Greek Book by John Williams White

The First Greek Book - 15.7MB

IN MEMORIAM

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Carpenters’ Furniture

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Texas Tarpon

Early Texas photo of Tarpon catch – Not necessarily the one mentioned below…

July 2, 1898. Forest and Stream Pg.10

Texas Tarpon.

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Preserving Iron and Steel Surfaces with Paint

Painting the Brooklyn Bridge, Photo by Eugene de Salignac , 1914

 

Excerpt from: The Preservation of Iron and Steel Structures by F. Cosby-Jones, The Mechanical Engineer January 30, 1914

Painting.

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How to Distinguish Fishes

 

Sept. 3, 1898. Forest and Stream Pg. 188-189

How to Distinguish Fishes.

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Fruits of the Empire: Licorice Root and Juice

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The Character of a Happy Life

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Horn Measurement

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Horn Measurements.

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Peach Brandy

PEACH BRANDY

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On Bernini’s Bust of a Stewart King

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King Lear

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Historic authenticity of the Spanish SAN FELIPE of 1690

San Felipe Model

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Fresh Water Angling – The Two Crappies

 

July 2, 1898 Forest and Stream,

Fresh-Water Angling. No. IX.—The Two Crappies. BY FRED MATHER.

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Here a short rod, say 8ft., is long enough, and the line should not be much longer than the rod. A reel is not [...] Read more →

Chantry Chapels

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Chantry, chapel, generally within [...] Read more →

The First Pineapple Grown in England

First Pineapple Grown in England

Click here to read an excellent article on the history of pineapple growing in the UK.

Should one be interested in serious mass scale production, click here for scientific resources.

Growing pineapples in the UK.

The video below demonstrates how to grow pineapples in Florida.

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The Billesden Coplow Run

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[From “Reminiscences of the late Thomas Assheton Smith, Esq”]

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Vitruvius Ten Books on Architecture

VITRUVIUS

The Ten Books on Architecture

TRANSLATED By MORRIS HICKY MORGAN, PH.D., LL.D. LATE PROFESSOR OF CLASSICAL PHILOLOGY

IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND ORIGINAL DESINGS PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF HERBERT LANGFORD WARREN, A.M.

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Snipe Shooting

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——

“Si sine amore jocisque Nil est jucundum, vivas in &more jooisque.” -Horace. “If nothing appears to you delightful without love and sports, then live in sporta and [...] Read more →

The Stock Exchange Specialist

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Arsenic and Old Lace

What is follows is an historical article that appeared in The Hartford Courant in 1916 about the arsenic murders carried out by Mrs. Archer-Gilligan. This story is the basis for the 1944 Hollywood film “Arsenic and Old Lace” starring Cary Grant and Priscilla Lane and directed by Frank Capra. The [...] Read more →

Thomas Jefferson Correspondence – On Seed Saving and Sharing

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Why Beauty Matters – Sir Roger Scruton

Roger Scruton – Why Beauty Matters (2009) from Mirza Akdeniz on Vimeo.

Click here for another site on which to view this video.

Sadly, Sir Roger Scruton passed away a few days ago—January 12th, 2020. Heaven has gained a great philosopher.

Home Top of [...] Read more →

The Black Grouper or Jewfish.

 

Nov. 5. 1898 Forest and Stream Pg. 371-372

The Black Grouper or Jewfish.

New Smyrna, Fla., Oct. 21.—Editor Forest and Stream:

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The Apparatus of the Stock Market

Sucker

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Markets are generally set up by sellers as it is in their [...] Read more →

The Snipe

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AFTER having given a particular description of the woodcock, it will only. be necessary to observe, that the plumage and shape of the snipe is much the same ; and indeed its habits and manners sets bear a great [...] Read more →

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Pickled Eels

Vintage woodcut illustration of a Eel

 

This dish is a favorite in Northern Europe, from the British Isles to Sweden.

Clean and skin the eels and cut them into pieces about 3/4-inch thick. Wash and drain the pieces, then dredge in fine salt and allow to stand from 30 [...] Read more →

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Artist Methods

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Work in Progress…

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Every substance may be considered as a varnish, which, when applied to the surface of a solid body, gives it a permanent lustre. Drying oil, thickened by exposure to the sun’s heat or [...] Read more →

Abingdon, Berkshire in the Year of 1880

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From a Dictionary of the Thames from Oxford to the Nore. 1880 by Charles Dickens

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Photo Caption: The Marquis of Zetland, KC, PC – otherwise known as Lawrence Dundas Son of: John Charles Dundas and: Margaret Matilda Talbot born: Friday 16 August 1844 died: Monday 11 March 1929 at Aske Hall Occupation: M.P. for Richmond Viceroy of Ireland Vice Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire Lord – in – Waiting [...] Read more →

Cleaner for Gilt Picture Frames

Cleaner for Gilt Frames.

Calcium hypochlorite…………..7 oz. Sodium bicarbonate……………7 oz. Sodium chloride………………. 2 oz. Distilled water…………………12 oz.

 

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Books Condemned to be Burnt

BOOKS CONDEMNED TO BE BURNT.

By

JAMES ANSON FARRER,

LONDON

ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW

1892

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WHEN did books first come to be burnt in England by the common hangman, and what was [...] Read more →

Proper Wines to Serve with Food

Foie gras with Sauternes, Photo by Laurent Espitallier

As an Appetizer

Pale dry Sherry, with or without bitters, chilled or not. Plain or mixed Vermouth, with or without bitters. A dry cocktail.

With Oysters, Clams or Caviar

A dry flinty wine such as Chablis, Moselle, Champagne. Home Top of [...] Read more →

The Cremation of Sam McGee

Robert W. Service (b.1874, d.1958)

 

There are strange things done in the midnight sun By the men who moil for gold; The Arctic trails have their secret tales That would make your blood run cold; The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, But the queerest they ever did see Was that night [...] Read more →

Herbal Psychedelics – Rhododendron ponticum and Mad Honey Disease

Toxicity of Rhododendron From Countrysideinfo.co.UK

“Potentially toxic chemicals, particularly ‘free’ phenols, and diterpenes, occur in significant quantities in the tissues of plants of Rhododendron species. Diterpenes, known as grayanotoxins, occur in the leaves, flowers and nectar of Rhododendrons. These differ from species to species. Not all species produce them, although Rhododendron ponticum [...] Read more →

King William III on Horseback by Sir Godfrey Kneller

Reprint from The Royal Collection Trust website:

Kneller was born in Lubeck, studied with Rembrandt in Amsterdam and by 1676 was working in England as a fashionable portrait painter. He painted seven British monarchs (Charles II, James II, William III, Mary II, Anne, George I and George II), though his [...] Read more →

Method of Restoration for Ancient Bronzes and other Alloys

Cannone nel castello di Haut-Koenigsbourg, photo by Gita Colmar

Without any preliminary cleaning the bronze object to be treated is hung as cathode into the 2 per cent. caustic soda solution and a low amperage direct current is applied. The object is suspended with soft copper wires and is completely immersed into [...] Read more →

The Crime of the Congo by Arthur Conan Doyle

 

Man looks at severed hand and foot….for refusing to climb a tree to cut rubber for King Leopold

Click here to read The Crime of the Congo by Arthur Conan Doyle

Victim of King Leopold of Belgium

Click on the link below for faster download.

The [...] Read more →

The Effect of Magnetic Fields on Wound Healing

The Effect of Magnetic Fields on Wound Healing Experimental Study and Review of the Literature

Steven L. Henry, MD, Matthew J. Concannon, MD, and Gloria J. Yee, MD Division of Plastic Surgery, University of Missouri Hospital & Clinics, Columbia, MO Published July 25, 2008

Objective: Magnets [...] Read more →