This curious and intimate portrait study of the great painter Reynolds is almost certainly the work of an artist contemporary with the master. Reynolds’ image was well known through his own self portraits, many of which were widely available through engravings. Young aspiring artists could certainly do no wrong by creating images of his likeness and as such it seems likely that this is one such work, perhaps undertaken by an art student.

Reynolds led the eighteenth-century art world as first President of the Royal Academy as a Britain’s leading portrait painter. In his attempt to raise the status of portraiture, he created the ‘Grand Manner’ which borrowed from classical antiquity and the Old Masters to fill his portraits with moral and heroic symbolism. An incredible socialite, social climber and self-promoter, Reynolds used his contacts to advance himself. Appointed President of the newly established Royal Academy in 1768, his annual lectures – or Discourses on Art – had a lasting impact on the contemporary theory of art and practice.