Sir Joshua Reynolds, Premier Président de l'Académie Royale de Londres

Paris: Hachette et Cie, 1901. First edition. Hardcover. g. Elephant folio. XI, [1], 263pp. Contemporary floral cloth with gold lettering on title label laid on spine. Decorative endpapers. Frontispiece protected with a captioned tissue guard. Title page in red and black lettering. Remarkable work on the life and work of this influential 18th-century English painter, specialized in portraits and promoting the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was one of the founders and first President of the Royal Academy. King George III appreciated his merits and knighted him in 1769. This book is profusely illustrated with 68 heliogravures and 6 colored lithographs depicting some of the painter's most notable paintings. Spine and edges of binding age-toned. Title label rubbed, thus affecting gold lettering. Head and tail of spine partly chipped. Very minor age toning along paper margin. Binding in overall fair, interior in good+ to very good condition.