Customer Reviews

Sir Joshua Reynolds: A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings (The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art)

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I personally think, that these volumes would normally appeal to an art or university library, but the average art lover could find them a tad disappointing for the price. Both volumes are huge - measuring about 12cm wide together on the bookcase; but the text volume is only text and the prints are mostly black and white.
I wouldn't attempt to knock these guys for inaccuracy. They seem to have taken a thorough and methodical approach to the whole subject with the details of each portrait carefully listed and catalogued. However, I do think it's a shame that they didn't go the extra mile and ensure that more of the reproductions were in colour. Reynolds was a superb portrait artist and I don't feel that this catalogue comes even close to really showcaseing his work.
Regarding the colour plates; in the prints volume there are 132 in colour, but a fairly random selection that I think misses a lot of his best portrait work. The rest of the prints are in black and white and listed four to a page. I was also a bit disappointed with the quality of the photography, as I've seen better prints of most of the paintings that I recognised in other publications.
So five stars for the scholarship and research - but in my opinion, for the price, only get it if you really, really love Reynolds.