91 Quotes by Joshua Reynolds

Taste depends upon those finer emotions which make the organization of the soul.

Though colour may appear at first a part of painting merely mechanical, yet it still has its rules, and those grounded upon that presiding principle which regulates both the great and the little in the study of a painter.

There can be no doubt but that he who has the most materials has the greatest means of invention...

Let me recommend to you not to have too great dependence on your practice or memory, however strong those impressions may have been which are there deposited. They are forever wearing out, and will be at least obliterated, unless they are continually refreshed and repaired.

The art of seeing nature, or, in other words, the art of using models, is in reality the great object, the point to which all our studies are directed.

A painter must compensate the natural deficiencies of his art. He has but one sentence to utter, but one moment to exhibit. He cannot, like the poet or historian, expatiate, and impress the mind...

Art in its perfection is not ostentatious; it lies hid and works its effect, itself unseen.

Nothing is denied to well-directed labor.

Common observation and a plain understanding is the source of all art.