Susanna Avery-Quash
Senior Research Curator (History of Collecting) at the National Gallery
Project role: Curator
The Reynolds Project
Key information
Summary
The Reynolds Project was a collaborative research initiative by the Wallace Collection, London with the National Gallery, to study the materials and techniques of the 18th-century British artist Sir Joshua Reynolds to gain insights into Reynolds' complex painting techniques and their impact on the condition of his works.
Key information
Project dates
2015
Partners
Wallace Collection
Contact
researchcentre@nationalgallery.org.uk
Context
The Reynolds Project was a collaborative research initiative by the Wallace Collection, London with the National Gallery, to study the materials and techniques of the 18th-century British artist Sir Joshua Reynolds to gain insights into Reynolds' complex painting techniques and their impact on the condition of his works. A wider impact of the project was to inform future conservation treatments, thereby helping to preserve his often problematic but influential body of work.
The project analyzed the five Reynolds paintings belonging to the National Gallery alongside the twelve in the Wallace Collection, thereby creating a comparative technical study.
Aims
This research aimed to understand Reynolds' innovative but often problematic experiments with painting materials, Reynolds used, including his choice of supports, grounds, pigments, and binders, as well as his experimental varnishes. The two institutions worked together to compare the technical data gathered from their respective Reynolds paintings, providing a broader view of his career. Along the way, the project also explored other aspects of Reynolds' work, such as his engagement with patrons, conventions of genre, and his relationships with other artists.
Project activity and outputs
The result was the creation of a comprehensive digital resource, compiling in one place hitherto dispersed and patchy technical data on Reynolds' works. It is accessible for researchers and conservators and supports both ongoing research into and conservation projects on paintings by Reynolds.
The project culminated in an exhibition, ‘Joshua Reynolds: Experiments in Paint’, at the Wallace Collection in 2015, and a scholarly conference.