Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792)
Filed under the name Joshua · October 18, 2026
Joshua Reynolds was a leading English portrait painter and the first president of the Royal Academy of Arts, and the part of his career I appreciate most, having spent 38 years teaching, is that he spent real time and effort mentoring a whole generation of younger painters rather than just guarding his own reputation at the top of his field. I always told my student teachers that the measure of a good teacher isn't how much you know, it's whether the people you taught go on to do good work of their own once you're not standing over their shoulder anymore. Reynolds apparently understood that about his craft, using his standing to help elevate the status of British art more broadly, not just his own paintings. It's a fine thing, wanting other people to succeed after you, especially once you've already made a name for yourself and technically don't need to bother. Good teachers, in any field, tend to leave more behind than just their own best work.