Spotlight on Reynolds at Kenwood House: celebrating the artist who dominated English cultural life in his age

Melanie McDonough | Evening Standard | 13th July 2023

A London show celebrates the 300th anniversary of Reynolds birth. Coverage is mostly deferential – founder of the Royal Academy of Arts, his renowned portraiture and so on. This fawning is all too much for one critic who can’t resist speaking plainly. “Reynolds has no imagination as a painter. [He] doesn’t have enough empathy with his sitters to expose their souls, His portraits are cynical hackwork. A minor talent [who] like the aristocracy, just won’t go away.”