Editing Joshua Reynolds (section)

===Royal Academy===
[[File:Loton Park c1870.jpg|thumb|The hall at [[Loton Park]], {{circa|1870}}. Showing, in situ, on the far wall Reynolds' ''Frances Anne Crewe (Miss Greville), as St. [[Genevieve]]'' ({{circa|1773}})]]
Reynolds was one of the earliest members of the [[Royal Society of Arts]], helped found the [[Society of Artists of Great Britain]], and in 1768 became the first president of the [[Royal Academy of Arts]], a position he was to hold until his death. In 1769, he was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] by [[George III]], only the second English artist to be so honoured.<ref>Wendorf, Richard, ''Sir Joshua Reynolds: The Painter in Society'' (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1998), p 46.</ref>  His ''Discourses'', a series of lectures delivered at the academy between 1769 and 1790, are remembered for their sensitivity and perception. In one lecture, he expressed the opinion that "invention, strictly speaking, is little more than a new combination of those images which have been previously gathered and deposited in the memory." William Jackson in his contemporary essays said of Reynolds 'there is much ingenuity and originality in all his academic discourses, replete with classical knowledge of his art, acute remarks on the works of others,  and general taste and discernment'.<ref>Jackson, William, ''The Four Ages including essays on various subjects'', London: Cadell & Davies, 1798.</ref>

Reynolds and the Royal Academy received a mixed reception. Critics included [[William Blake]] who published the vitriolic ''Annotations to Sir Joshua Reynolds' Discourses'' in 1808. [[J. M. W. Turner]] and Northcote were fervent acolytes: Turner requested he be laid to rest at Reynolds' side, and Northcote, who spent four years as Reynolds' pupil, wrote to his family: "I know him thoroughly, and all his faults, I am sure, and yet almost worship him."
In 2018, the Royal Academy of Arts celebrated its 250th anniversary from its opening in 1768. This became an impetus for galleries and museums across the UK to celebrate "the making, debating and exhibiting art at the Royal Academy".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/ra250uk|title=RA250 UK|access-date=30 November 2018}}</ref> [[Waddesdon Manor]] was amongst the historic houses that supported Sir Joshua Reynolds's influence at the academy, acknowledging how:
[[File:Waddesdon 2468.jpg|thumb|Reynolds's 'Mrs Sheridan in the character of St Cecilia' was considered by the artist's nephew as a 'sight worth coming to Devonshire to see, I cannot suppose that there was ever a greater Beauty in the world, nor even Helen or Cleopatra could have exceeded her', 1775, [[Waddesdon Manor]].]]
<blockquote>[He] transformed British painting with portraits and subject pictures that engaged their audience's knowledge, imagination, memory and emotions... As an eloquent teacher and art theorist, he used his role at the head of the Royal Academy to raise the status of art and artists of Britain.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://waddesdon.org.uk/joshua-reynolds/|title=Joshua Reynolds digital trail, Waddesdon Manor|last=Carey|first=Juliet|date=30 March 2018|access-date=30 Nov 2018}}</ref></blockquote>