A mezzotint after a self-portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds; three-quarter length, turned to the right. He rests his left hand on a table upon which stands a bust of Michelangelo. His right hand is on his hip. He wears the cap and gown of an academic. 1st state of 4. Inscribed below, in scratched letters: Painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds / Engraved by V. Green, Mezzotinto Engraver to his Majesty, & to the Elector Palatine / Published Decemb.r 1st, 1780, by V. Green, N.o 29, Newman Street, Oxford Street.

This is one of two magnificent mezzotints which were published together on 1 December 1780, soon after the completion of the pair of paintings by Joshua Reynolds that marked the move of the Royal Academy of Arts to its new premises at Somerset House. Reynolds was the first President of the Academy and William Chambers (1723–96), the architect of Somerset House, was the Treasurer. See also RCIN 640290.

This image of Reynolds is the most grandiose of his self-portraits, for he wished to position himself as both the heir of the old masters and a major figure of contemporary British society. The pose is indebted to Van Dyck and the tonality and colouring of the painting to Rembrandt. There seems to be a specific reference to Rembrandt's Aristotle Contemplating a Bust of Homer (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) – though Reynolds has substituted a bust by Daniele da Volterra of his hero, Michelangelo, which stands on a giltwood pier table. He is dressed in academic robes, for he was proud of his honorary Doctorate of Civil Law, awarded by the University of Oxford in 1773, and the title inscribed on the finished state of this print records his many distinctions: Sir Joshua Reynolds, Knight, President of the Royal Academy, Member of the Imperial Academy at Florence, Doctor of Laws of the Universities of Oxford and Dublin, And Fellow of the Royal Society. Reynolds has also idealised his own features to a considerable degree: he is almost unrecognisable from the group portrait by Rigaud of Reynolds, Chambers and Joseph Wilton (National Portrait Gallery, London), which was criticised at the time for its realism – 'the Integrity which has led the Artist to copy so exactly the Vulgarity of the President's Countenance' (St James's Chronicle, 2–4 May 1782, quoted in Ingamells 2004, p. 503).

Text adapted from Portrait of the Artist, London, 2016