"Like a sovereign judge and arbiter of Art, he is possessed of that-presiding power which separates and attracts every excellence from every school; selects both from what is great, and what is little; brings home knowledge from the East and from the West; making the universe tributary towards furnishing his mind and enriching his works with originality, and variety of inventions."
— Reynolds, Joshua (1723-1792)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Thomas Davies
Date
December 10, 1774; 1775
Metaphor
"Like a sovereign judge and arbiter of Art, he is possessed of that-presiding power which separates and attracts every excellence from every school; selects both from what is great, and what is little; brings home knowledge from the East and from the West; making the universe tributary towards furnishing his mind and enriching his works with originality, and variety of inventions."
Metaphor in Context
To find excellencies, however dispersed, to discover beauties, however concealed by the multitude of defects with which they are surrounded, can be the work only of him who having a mind always alive to his Art, has extended his views to all ages and to all schools; and has acquired from that comprehensive mass which he has thus gathered to himself, a well-digested and perfect idea of his Art, to which every thing is referred.
Like a sovereign judge and arbiter of Art, he is possessed of that-presiding power which separates and attracts every excellence from every school; selects both from what is great, and what is little; brings home knowledge from the East and from the West; making the universe tributary towards furnishing his mind and enriching his works with originality, and variety of inventions.
(p. 32)
Like a sovereign judge and arbiter of Art, he is possessed of that-presiding power which separates and attracts every excellence from every school; selects both from what is great, and what is little; brings home knowledge from the East and from the West; making the universe tributary towards furnishing his mind and enriching his works with originality, and variety of inventions.
(p. 32)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
From 1769 to 1772 Reynolds' lectures were delivered annually, with each discourse published shortly after its delivery. After 1772, the lectures were delivered biennially. The first seven discourses were collected and published together in 1778. In 1797, the first collected edition of all fifteen appeared, with a second edition issued in 1798. See the ODNB.
Text from A Discourse Delivered to the Students of the Royal Academy, on the Distribution of the Prizes, Dec. the 10th, 1774. By the President. (London: Printed for Thomas Davies, 1775). <Link to ECCO>
See also Sir Joshua Reynolds, Seven Discourses Delivered in the Royal Academy by the President (London: T. Cadell, 1778). <Link to Google Books>
Also reading at PGDP.
Text from A Discourse Delivered to the Students of the Royal Academy, on the Distribution of the Prizes, Dec. the 10th, 1774. By the President. (London: Printed for Thomas Davies, 1775). <Link to ECCO>
See also Sir Joshua Reynolds, Seven Discourses Delivered in the Royal Academy by the President (London: T. Cadell, 1778). <Link to Google Books>
Also reading at PGDP.
Date of Entry
07/25/2013
