Mastering Portraiture
Explore the Wallace Collection's remarkable collection of Joshua Reynolds' groundbreaking works.
The Wallace Collection is fortunate to have in its care one of the largest and most important groups of paintings by Joshua Reynolds anywhere in the world.
Mrs Mary Nesbitt, 1781
Commissioned and collected by several generations of the Seymour-Conway family (who founded the museum) across two centuries, the group not only demonstrates Reynolds’s virtuosity as a painter but also his pioneering forms of portraiture.
Mrs Elizabeth Carnac, 1775
His drive for innovation was formed early in his career when he travelled to Italy in 1749, and reinforced through his later visit to the Low Countries in 1781.
Miss Nelly O'Brien, 1762-4
He explored their visual cultures, studying the old masters and seeking new markets, compensating for what he believed to be an inadequate artistic training and the limitations of the British system, which encouraged proficiency in a single type of painting: portraiture.
The Strawberry Girl, 1772-3
He was recognised, even during his lifetime, for his extraordinary skill, as well as his capacity for experimentation.
The 4th Duke of Queensbury ('Old Q') as Earl of March, 1759
Through unique combinations of pigments, oils, varnishes and glazes, Reynolds looked to achieve new effects of colour, tone and depth to capture the pictorial qualities he so admired in the work of the old masters and his rivals.
Photo of West Room (2022) by Wallace CollectionThe Wallace Collection
Explore Reynolds' artworks at the Wallace Collection here.
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