[From Schenkius: Observationum Medicanum, Francofurti, 1609]

ANNALS OF MEDICAL HISTORY Third Series, Volume I November, 1939 Number 6

SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS AND HIS BLINDNESS AND DEATH*

By BURTON CHANCE, M.D.

PHILADELPHIA

WHILE in London a few traits I had seen knew the origin of the years ago. it was my malady which carried Reynolds off. In privilege to be taken the social and artistic histories of the over St. Bartholomew’s second half of the eighteenth century Hospital by Sir D'Arcy in England, a distinct place is accorded Power. It was my de­ to Sir Joshua Reynolds and his friends, light to pause with Sir D'Arcy before for on many accounts Sir Joshua was the portraits hanging in the Governors’ one of the most memorable men of his room. Among them was that superb time. It is known that intimacies existed one, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, of Perci- between him and numerous distin­ vall Pott, he who gave the names to guished medical men. Pott’s “Disease,” and Pott’s “Fracture,” In the history of medicine in Eng­ and who had described “Fistula Lachry­ land, during the period of Sir Joshua mal is.” And then the thought came to Reynolds’ course, few among the chief me that Pott and others there portrayed practitioners were much occupied with might have been friends of Reynolds, clinical pathology. In the scanty ac­ and probably they frequently visited counts given of Reynolds’ illness, noth­ that charming person at his hospitable ing that is satisfying to a modern medi­ house in Leicester Square, and perhaps cal man has been preserved. The story were aware that Sir Joshua became of his life is to be found chiefly in works blind and ceased to paint while still in by artists who, quite naturally, were in­ active life. The probable cause of Rey­ terested in Sir Joshua as the painter of nolds’ blindness had long interested me; unsurpassed portraits. We, therefore, and as I went out from “Bart’s,” I won­ can build up a theory to explain the dered whether any of those whose por­ probable origin of Reynolds’ malady * Read at the Section on Medical History, College of Physicians, Philadelphia, Monday, March 13, 1939. only from one’s own clinical experi­ uary 31, 1681, was the master of the ence, and from knowledge gained from grammar school and, being a university pathological research. man and a scholar, exercised himself Sometimes while gazing at the beau­ quite naturally in cultivating the minds tiful products of Reynolds’ brush, the of his children. With so large a family, thought has come to me “might not he could not afford, out of his small the affections to which he succumbed income to send his boys to the univer­ have been associated with the great sity, so he took care to ground them in painter’s blindness?’’ The meager de­ the classics, whereby Joshua became tails which I have been able to accu­ versed in Latin. The small boy of eight mulate have led me to infer that there years read quite serious books, and was a direct connection. showed distinct power of literary com­ Before considering his ill health, I position, in which he exhibited un­ wish to tell something of Reynolds’ life usual thoughtfulness. and character, the facts of which I have It was intended that Joshua should gathered from sources so numerous that become a practitioner of medicine, and they cannot be detailed here. He was a under the direction of his father who most charming man and a power in the was, in his own opinion, “a proficient in polite and cultivated society of London, the Science,’’ the boy’s training was con­ if not of the entire Kingdom. We may sidered with care. Before the lad was regard him as a thoroughly sane man; seventeen, he had spent a great deal of one whose sanity can be subjected to a time and pains in medical studies. thorough psychological study. While Without the father’s taking into ac­ venturing to describe him, I am re­ count the qualification of a “Master,’’ minded of the statement made by his since he himself should be the actual most devoted friend, the great orator instructor, it was decided to apprentice and statesman, Edmund Burke: him to the Plymouth Apothecary. An “Sir Joshua lived for his art and a “apothecary’’ in those days, it must be select circle of friends. The very quali­ remembered, was a general practi­ ties which made the society of our tioner. friend so pleasant to all who knew him All the children were fond of draw­ are the very things that make it difficult ing. Joshua in his early childhood to write his life or draw his character.’’ amused himself -with pen and pencil, Joshua Reynolds was born in Plymp- drawing and sketching and copying en­ ton, not far from Plymouth, England, gravings in books. Yet as a child, he on July 16, 1723. He was the third son did not evince extraordinary skill; in­ and the seventh child in a family of deed, he was the least promising of the eleven. His parents were descended family and inclined to playfulness. from families of intelligence and cul­ When he tried his hand at likenesses, ture. His mother ivas Theophila Pot­ he met with only tolerable success; ter, the child of an old literary family nevertheless, he continued year after of squires and numerous churchmen, year to occupy his leisure with his pen­ but she herself in the annals of the cil but he had not yet attempted to use Reynolds family was a name only and colors. His efforts at drawing and rather nothing has come down to us re­ crude attempts at portraits, showed the garding her personality. His father, the signs of a determination to succeed. Reverend Samuel Reynolds, born Jan­ Although Joshua was the clown of the family he had a truly serious nature he returned to his home and set up a and startled his brothers and sisters by studio at Plymouth Dock, later known drafting a set of “rules of conduct.” In­ as Devonport where, before January evitably, the claims of “Medical Sci­ ence” and of “Art” began to be almost equally balanced in his mind yet, so he declared to his father, “he’d rather be an apothecary than an ordinary painter, but if he could be bound to an eminent master, he should choose the latter.” In after years he explained to a friend that “if the profession of an apothecary had been selected for him, he should have felt the same determina­ tion to become the eminent physician as he then felt himself to be the first painter of his age.” He always main­ tained the dictum that “skill in pursuit did not depend on special faculties, but upon the aggregate amount of mental power.” It was decided that he should become an artist, and his highest expectation was fulfilled in November, 1740, when, though only seventeen years of age, he was received into the house of the popu­ lar portraitist Thomas Hudson to ■whom he was “apprenticed for three 1744, he had painted twenty-four por­ years.” Joshua, by his enthusiasm and traits and had commissions for ten decided talent promptly eclipsing his more. By December he was again in instructors, continued a pupil for only London. His father died at about this a little over eighteen months. It is not at time and Joshua resolved to return to all improbable that Hudson was jealous his old home. Between the years of of the foreshadowing of his pupil’s abil­ nineteen and twenty, “he became very ities. Joshua declared to his family that restless and lived for nearly three years his master’s canvasses “were without at Plymouth,” where it was recorded one touch of genius to raise them above that his time in the interval was spent the level of respectable mediocrity. in more or less idleness. It was the Whatsoever power they possessed was period of his first taste of freedom from confined to the drawing of the head; all control, and independence combined others did the shoulders and the with the delight of sociability conspired drapery.” “Painting had sunk to an to draw him from his easel and allowed ordinary manufacture. The art was at him to indulge in the pleasures of the the lowest ebb, it could not indeed be companionship of his friends. Thus lower. The Hudsons of his day could early was manifested that quality of teach him nothing further.” Relying on character which marked his life to the his family connections in Devonshire, end. Yet he was not altogether idle, for he executed a number of portraits in­ this invitation proved to be the turning cluding two admirable likenesses of point in his life. From being a guest, himself which exhibit a distinct eman­ Reynolds became the friend of Keppel.

cipation from the style of his teacher, At Minorca, the Governor provided Hudson. This breaking away from the free quarters for him and invited him domination of his master enabled him to live at his table. Even at this early to look to Nature and he began to trans­ date Reynolds could win his way wher­ fer to his canvas incidents and effects ever he went. In the weeks he passed on caught fresh from life, and youthful the island nearly all the officers availed though he was, these were portrayed themselves of the opportunity to have with an individuality and charm which their portraits painted by him. This his genius constantly ever after mani­ practice enabled Reynolds to improve fested. his skill and to add to his fortune. The height of Reynolds’ wishes was Towards the end of the year he to visit Rome; he yearned to study the reached Rome. At last the young Eng­ masterpieces of the world. The “period lishman was in the presence of the finest of dissipation’’ was suddenly and unex­ productions of Correggio, Titian, and pectedly closed by a most fortunate op­ Raphael; these he proceeded to copy. portunity to go abroad. In April, 1749, Above all he was inspired by the sub­ Commodore Keppel, putting in at lime creations of Michelangelo. In a Plymouth on his way to take command short time a new perception and a new of the fleet in the Mediterranean, while taste began to evolve within him. In paying a visit to a patron of the young one of his note books he wrote: “I was painter, was so charmed by the youth’s let into the Capello Sistine in the morn­ admirable qualities that he offered him ing and remained there the whole day.’’ a passage to Italy. The acceptance of For some months he confined himself to the Sistine Chapel, with the result that ner in which they were posed. On the the effects of his study there can be completion of a full length portrait of traced in all his later productions. It his friend, Commodore Keppel, so was through the enchantment of the Chapel that the general greatness of his style became instinctive. He remained in Rome for somewhat over two years; proceeding thence to Florence, to Venice, and later to other cities of Europe. While in Vienna, the band at the opera house played a popu­ lar air ■which was known in every street in London when Reynolds left home. The strains conjured up recollections which brought tears to his eyes. Long­ ing to return to England, he did not hesitate but set out on the journey at once and did not halt till he reached Paris. By October 16, 1752, he was again in London. Reynolds was then only twenty-nine years of age. While pursuing his studies of Ra­ phael’s pictures, he caught a severe cold and became cpiite deaf. For a year or so his health was much affected in conse- pleased were all with the result that quence. It was deemed best that he Reynolds’ reputation bounded forward, should sojourn at his home in Devon­ and before the close of 1753 he was able shire, where he remained for nine to raise his fees and to remove to larger months. On recovering, he set off for quarters in Great Newport Street. Be­ London where he hired a studio in St. fore he went to Italy, he charged for a Martin’s Lane, the fashionable quarter head, three guineas; in St. Martin’s for artists. Here he was joined by his Lane, five; and in Newport Street, younger sister, Frances, who took twelve; double the price of a head for charge of his household and continued half-length, and double that, for full with him for many years. length. While abroad he had lived in the He was now established in his profes­ strictest economy, and he was indebted sion, yet his head was not turned by to his relatives and friends for the funds this instantaneous success. He welcomed with which he had set himself up in comments from every quarter, and London. scouted the notion that none but Almost immediately, the young artist painters could judge pictures. He kept began to receive commissions. Through up his standard of excellence by a con­ the friendship of Lord Edgecombe, stant contemplation of the great mas­ whom he had known since boyhood ters, for the finest reproductions of days, many of the nobility were per­ whose works he expended large sums in suaded to sit to him. They were de­ order that he might have them for ref­ lighted at the simple and natural man­ erence and study. He never began a portrait without the determination that softest graces of humor and the ingenu­ it should excel all his previous efforts. ousness of children to the attitudes of Every picture was a separate study, and men. His male heads are endowed with vigor and are distinguished by the strongest traits of masculinity. The greatness and grace of style in every ele­ ment of Reynolds’ art are stamped on his works. It is extraordinary how nu­ merous were the mental states this artist depicted, a variety no other artist before him had attempted. Reynolds main­ tained that “as the states are but the embodiment of thoughts lying too deep for words, by their poetry and pathos they beget unutterable thoughts in the beholder.” In 1758, he had 159 sitters, more than one portrait in every two days. The rapid succession with which his por­ traits followed each other renders sur­ prising the variety of their designs, which must have demanded from him deliberate thought for each. He raised his prices to twenty, forty, and eighty guineas. At this period from the unusual number of the works he threw off, his profession was more lucra­ tive than when his charges were higher. I'he whole of his production did not commonplace attitudes or trite inven­ turn to gold, however, as some of the tions were rigidly rejected. Nor would portraits "were never paid for, and a few he relax in his exertions because the may have been refused from want of person before him did not belong to the likeness. The works which ultimately higher classes of society. “Great or vul­ remained with him were comparatively gar,” “good subjects or bad, all,” he few, and after all deductions his earn­ said, “had nature and this afforded a ings were large. In 1762, he was making sufficient basis for pictorial power.” His £6000 a year. Once, when lamenting range was unlimited. He was great in the interruptions from idle visitors, he rendering the traits of all his sitters; remarked, “these people do not con­ men, women, boys, girls, age, tempera­ sider that my time is worth five guineas ment, and callings, soldiers and men of an hour.” His art was his passion and letters, the gay and the thoughtful, the the influx of riches did not relax his vicious and the good. His portraits ex­ exertions; he was in the painting-room emplify his maxim, “Real greatness from ten to four, and as he once said, presents less by far to the senses than to he “went on laboring as a mechanic the imagination.” His hand brought working for his bread.” His devoted forth its cunning in passing from the friend, Edmund Burke, in his apprecia- tion wrote: “His speedy attainment of acquiring a chariot with carved and wealth and fame had no effect in cor­ gilded wheels and allegorical figures rupting his unassuming simplicity; his painted on the panels, in keeping with

native humility, modesty and candor the custom of Londoners of distinction, never forsook him.” who maintained elaborate and conspic­ In 1760, Reynolds purchased the uous coaches and other equipages. lease for forty-seven years of a large Reynolds himself had little use for the house in Leicester Scpiare. The price carriage, but he wished his sister to use paid, £1650, absorbed the greater part it despite her shyness and her efforts to of his savings; in addition, at an outlay avoid the publicity likely to be assigned of £1500, he enlarged the house in to the sister of so famous a man. order to provide a gallery in which to Reynolds’ habits were never vulgar exhibit his many pictures, and a paint­ and he had no cause to employ artifice ing-room for his own purposes. to win favors. His commissions were On taking up his residence in what more numerous than his rapid hand was then a fashionable Scpiare, the once could execute; he was conscious that he quiet country lad indulged himself by was without a rival. He trusted to the glories of his pencil rather than to the est notice, and sixteen persons were splendor of a carriage to sustain his rep­ often crowded around a table which utation. He did, however, signalize his had been laid for half that number. His servants were ill-trained, the service defective, and the guests were left in a great measure to take care of them­ selves. There was an abundance of the best provisions the season afforded with­ out any of the refinements of epicur­ ism. Reynolds sat composedly in the midst of the “convivial bustle,’’ attend­ ing solely to -what was said and paying no regard to the hitches in the service of the food. Reynolds was neither a tippler nor a glutton though he ate and drank freely. The gatherings at Sir Joshua’s might be said to have represented an epitome of the London Society of his day; tem­ poral and spiritual peers, physicians, lawyers, actors, and musicians composed the motley outpourings of superior minds, who brought with them the charm of ease and culture. The variety of tastes and talents brought together assisted in giving life to the conversa­ removal to the new house by giving an tion; and these fashionable receptions elaborate ball. Reynolds was not much attracted to Leicester Square the lead­ addicted to mere gaiety but no one had ing men of the day. Reynolds was as a keener zest for mental intercourse famous for his dinners and drawing­ than he. He was fond of London and room parties as for his skill in painting. maintained that it was the only place There was something in the man apart in England where pleasant society from his genius; his patience, his geni­ might be found. He belonged to vari­ ality, his imperturbability of temper, ous clubs and dined out frequently. made him the confidant of these great Every week he gave one or more dinners men. He was interested in all the intel­ himself. He gradually gathered around lectual movements of his time and was him all the celebrities of the time. For received on a footing of equality by the thirty years there was scarcely a person brightest wits and the keenest intellects in the three kingdoms distinguished in of his generation. letters, law, politics, and war, who did Reynolds had a comprehensive na­ not occasionally appear at his table, and ture which sympathized with many the most famous among them were his moods of mind, else he could not have constant guests. recorded these with such power on his Dinner was served at five o’clock pre­ canvasses. Dr. Johnson said he “knew cisely, and he waited for nobody, high no one who had passed through life with or low. He invited callers on the short­ more observation. His manners were perfect, gentle, complying and bland, founding of the Royal Academy of Arts and his exterior graciousness was the which met with the approval of King truthful index of his inward benevo­ George. The first general meeting was lence.” Goldsmith dedicated “The De­ serted Village” to Reynolds, whose pre­ dilection for the company of men of letters in preference to that of his fel­ low painters might be explained by an inheritance of the literary trend of his ancestors. Reynolds’ rapidly accumulated for­ tune was not for his sole enjoyment, nor were his virtues tainted with the vice of boastfulness, and he still felt the luxury of doing good. His readiness to relieve the needy was well known among his intimates, and he was singu­ larly unostentatious in his benevolence. XVith his readiness in spending, he was not greedy in getting, and when his pictures were not paid for, he accepted the loss quietly. He used to say he could not dun for debts persons whom he was constantly meeting at dinner. “He had too much innocence to provoke en­ mity,” yet it is true that there have been held December 14. The object of the reports circulated accusing him of Academy was to establish a school of meanness, but such detractors were design where students might receive in­ likely to have been jealous competitors struction. Reynolds was chosen to fill or discharged assistants or servants. the place of president. He worked hard Burke wrote, “I do not know a fault or in the organization and threw all his en­ weakness of his that he did not convert ergies into making it a success. He pre­ into something that bordered on a vir­ pared a series of fifteen “Discourses,” tue instead of pushing it to the confines with the object of showing that art is a of a vice.” liberal profession and that painting is In 1768, an important event in the not a mere pastime, but a great and world of art took place—the institution serious occupation requiring sustained by the painters of an annual exhibition study, worthy to rank with the highest of their works, a display similar to that held by artists in France with the king science. The “Discourses” which were as patron. Hitherto, their productions his principal literary work, serve as were to be seen chiefly at shops where treatises on the history of art. They the artists were compelled to submit to express noble ideas and great thoughts the terms of the shop-keeper upon couched in a precise good style, and whose countenance they depended for rendered in pure and classical English. the disposal of their works. They possess a high critical and artistic The result of this exhibition was the value expressing and inculcating those maxims of art commonly denominated expression of the purity and grace of as the “academic.” the gentler sex, the innocence and nat­ On April 21, 1769, the king knighted uralness of childhood. He was not suc­ cessful in historical subjects, however, nor in landscapes; he seemed to have been deficient in imagination. He ex­ perimented with pigments, and was considered to have been careless and uncertain so that even during his own lifetime his canvasses deteriorated and faded. Reynolds’ art at this period was in full bloom, and the nation began to recognize his greatness. He was the first Englishman who added the praise of the elegant arts to the other glories of his country. In 1773, the University of Oxford conferred on him the degree of d.c.l. He was so delighted on receiving this honor and so pleased with the bril­ liance of the cap and gown that he fre­ quently painted himself in his academi­ cal dress, perhaps for the pictorial effect, and certainly because he prized hono­ rary titles. “Distinction,” he said, “is what we all seek after, and the world does set a value on it, and I go with the stream of life.” Reynolds, who thus became Sir Joshua, His authentic works have been esti­ the first painter to receive knighthood mated to have been nearly 3,000 from since the days of Queen Anne. King which were executed over 700 engrav­ George was never friendly to Reynolds ings. Numerous exhibitions of his and did not admire his pictures. Due to works have been held; the first collec­ his nearsightedness the king was obliged tion was in 1813 when 143 pictures to come so close to the pictures that he were shown. saw them as rough and unfinished. Rey­ In 1784 Reynolds exhibited his por­ nolds never officially painted the por­ trait of “Mrs. Siddons as the Tragic trait of any of the royal family. In 1779, Muse.” Stimulated by the extraordinary the king and queen honored him by natural beauty of that great actress, sitting for their portraits, at his par­ after unusual exertion, he made what ticular request, for the council room of has been considered both for color and the Royal Academy. execution to be the most superb picture He became the head of the English of its kind, and the finest female portrait school of painting by virtue of his por­ ever painted. traits. His style is dignified and his pic­ Two portraits of special interest to tures charm us by their flesh tinting, medical men will be mentioned here— the strength of manhood exhibited, the that of Percivall Pott at St. Bartholo- mew's, and John Hunter at the Royal the portrait of Lady Beauchamp and College of Surgeons. Mr. Pott's is the had about begun that of a new sitter, a finest portrait at Bart's. It was painted “Mrs. Cox,” for whom he had made in 1788, when Pott was seventy-one. The old surgeon is seated, his forearms resting on the arms of a handsome chair. He faces the right where there is a writing table covered with cloth on which are a book, sheets of paper and a quill—a heavy curtain is draped expos­ ing the outer landscape. The crimson coat which Pott affected, brilliantly il­ luminates the picture, and the light presumably from a window shines on the face; the heavy black eyebrows and puffed wig conspicuously offset the countenance. A truly striking portrait in a natural unassuming pose. Mr. Hunter’s portrait is so well known that a description would be un­ necessary. It was painted in 1785 when Reynolds was sixty-two. Hunter, a bad subject, was impatient and hated to sit still. It is related that the artist was dis­ satisfied with his first product, but after several ineffectual attempts at securing a pose, Hunter became fatigued and fell into a train of thought. The artist quickly turned his canvas upside down and sketched a new head between the several later entries. He was in his sixty­ legs of the figure already painted. This sixth year and for some time past had story has been disputed. The portrait been much depressed over the loss of that we know exhibits a fine contrast his devoted friends, Goldsmith, Garrick between Hunter and the things around and Dr. Johnson. him, the manuscript, the specimen jars, In the earlier days of July, he had felt and the dangling feet of the Irish giant. some uneasiness in his left eye, yet made It looks as though the painter had been no complaint, as he did not regard it as allowed to watch Hunter at work. The of any consequence, but he naturally dress is of dark crimson velvet. became greatly disturbed as the symp­ Reynolds’ days continued to flow on toms came on with alarming severity with a prosperity which seemed almost and persisted so that he was not able to to have exempted him from the com­ paint, except the more or less simple mon casualties of life. Suddenly, all this retouching of certain pictures still in activity ceased! On Monday, July 13, his studio. In ten weeks the sight of the 1789, he wrote in his appointment left eye was gone and he became afraid book, “prevented by my Eye begins to to paint, to read, or to write, dreading be obscured.” He had nearly finished that the right too might go, although he could sec as well as ever with it. His some this social ease might have seemed ruling passion continued in force, how­ an enviable lot, but to a man whose pro­ ever; he enjoyed studying his paintings fession had been his pleasure for fifty and amused himself by “sometimes years, a perpetual holiday was a burden. cleaning and mending a picture.” He The progress of his disease which was enjoyed company and a game at cards as believed to be “Gutta Serena” was slow; much as ever. Malone, a one-time resi­ early in October, 1790, he began to feel dent. pupil of Reynolds, in his biogra­ great, pain in the eve, and was under phy wrote, “In the fifteen years during the most violent apprehensions that the which I had the pleasure of living with other eye was also becoming blind. Sir Joshua on terms of great intimacy In one of her letters, Miss Palmer he appeared to me the happiest man I “thanked God these fears vanished and had ever known. He had early adopted he sees as well as ever with the other. the maxim ‘The great principle of being However, the dread of what may hap­ happy is not to be affected by small pen if' he uses it too much entirely things.’ ” deters him from either painting, writ­ Even so terrible a visitation, and the ing, or reading and for the last few total interruption of the labor he loved months I have spent all my time in read­ so well, “did not depress the sweet ing to him and writing all that he wants serenity of his nature to melancholy,” to have done.” as his friends feared might be the con­ At last he became dejected and pre­ sequence. dhew were assiduous in con­ sented a sorry spectacle to his devoted soling him, and during the summer he friends. Miss Burney has left a touching visited them at their country places. For account of two visits to him. She found a short time he stayed at his villa at him “serious even to sadness,” a thing Richmond, yet he was never happy scarcely to be wondered at, and she there as he felt that Nature was shut added that she “found him with one eye out. During the autumn and winter he bandaged and the other shaded with a was restless and sought distraction in green half bonnet.” “I am glad,” he change of scene. On visiting his friend. said to her in a weakened and dejected Mr. Burke. he alighted from his car­ accent, “to see you again, and I wish I riage and walked four miles in company could see you better! But. I have but. with Mr. Malone without stopping or one eye now—and scarcely that.” without complaint. In spite of his disability he diligently He was fortunate in his domestic cir­ attended the affairs of the Academy, cumstances. About this period his sister but. his associates on the council had left his house, but two nieces, the been dying off one by one, and Sir Misses Palmer, came to live with him, Joshua was much alone there. It. was a. attending him with assiduous affection. marvelous exhibition of strength that His friends gathered round him, striv­ he was able to attend the “Academy” ing to beguile the tediousness of his on December 10, 1790, to deliver his existence. In 1790 his notebook is full last Discourse. of engagements for dinners and evening He informed his auditors that “his parties, but no appointments for sit- age and his infirmities more than his tens. He had all the amusement which age would probably never permit him could be derived from dinners, con­ to address them again.” His lecture was versation, whist, country visits. To chiefly devoted to the mighty master from whom he had derived, in his to live ten or fifteen years as any of his youth, his highest inspiration and he younger friends. wound up by saying that the last words Malone writes, “In this state he was he wished to pronounce from the chair in the month of November, and the of the Academy was the name of physicians who then attended him, Sir Michelangelo. George Baker and Dr. Warren, assured While speaking to his friends gath­ him that his remaining eye was in no ered round him, the floor gave way and danger, and that with respect to other there was great confusion, but Sir complaints, if he would exert himself, Joshua was silent and did not move take exercise, and think himself well, he from his seat. When the danger was would be well. He continued to use all over he continued as calmly as if noth­ the means of restoration prescribed; his ing had occurred. This imperturba­ conduct to his physicians was submis­ bility was so constant a characteristic of sive and accommodating, even where Sir Joshua that Northcote wrote of him, his own consciousness of the inevitable “If the devil was on his back no one termination of his disease taught him to would learn of it from his face.” believe that exterior symptoms, excited The disease made rapid progress. too readily by the eager wishes of his Miss Burney saw him again in July, friends were deceptive.” 1791, when he was greatly dejected, still On November 5, he was able to write fearful of total darkness. About Septem­ his will with his own hand, with this ber of this year, his usual spirits began affecting preamble: to give way under this apprehension “As it is probable that I may shortly and he began to suffer from loss of ap­ be deprived of sight, and may not have petite; he was unable to account for an opportunity of making a formal will, this and his physicians ignorantly I desire that the following memoranda ascribed it to melancholy. By October may be considered as my last will and his equitable spirits became much de­ testament.” Through some disagreement over the pressed. The eye had become so much appointment of an official of the Acad­ inflamed that, in spite of attempts at emy, Sir Joshua resigned from the presi­ reassurance, he feared more than ever dency, but on December 10, he was that the right, too, was affected. He formally re-elected, although he was not could not express to his physicians the able to resume any of the duties of the nature of the seat of his bodily disease. Chair. His successor was our own coun­ His excellent constitution began to fail, tryman, Benjamin West. and at the end of 1791, recovery became By this time the eye was “swollen and hopeless. Painting was entirely aban­ appeared as though extravasated blood doned, yet he did not lay down his pen­ protruded from it.” To control this, cil until November. His last male por­ Mr. Cruikshank, who was called in as a trait was the fine one of Mr. Fox in surgeon, “bled him with leeches, . . . which not the slightest diminution of and blistered him repeatedly, and all in power was perceptible. But for his vain. His spirits had become much de­ bodily impairments he might have con­ pressed, and daily his appetite de­ tinued to give his works to the world. creased.” Despite his years he preserved the look All this time, that is during Novem­ of a man of fifty and seemed as likely ber, December and January, not the least attempt was made to investigate this most valuable man for many years the seat or origin of his general disease, but for want of exertion combined with neither did his attendants call for a some want of skill in his physicians. Un­ surgeon to examine his body with the fortunately, they7 never paid any atten­ hope of discovering the latent mischief. tion to his loss of appetite and depres­ In December the sufferer was aware sion of spirits; and even while he was that death was approaching. A friend gradually wasting, their whole language tried to comfort him with the hope of was ‘What can we do for a man who will returning health, and he answered, “I do nothing for himself?’ While at the have been fortunate in long, good same time they owned they could not health, and constant success and I ought form any notion whatsoever of his dis­ not to complain.” “I know that all order, although the patient was ready things on earth must come to an end and willing to follow any prescription and I have come to mine.” His com­ they should order.” posure returned when he became sen­ “Nothing,” wrote Burke on Janu­ sible that his departure was at hand. ary 26, 1792, “can equal the tranquility In January he was compelled to take with which he nears his end. He con­ to his bed. It was evident to his friends gratulates himself on it as ‘a happy con­ that the patient was gradually sinking. clusion to a happy life.’ ” At each successive visit they found him Between eight and nine o’clock on weaker and more despondent. Thursday evening, February 23, this Dr. Charles Blagdon, then secretary great artist and accomplished man, with to the Royal Society, a man of varied little pain, died tranquilly, as behooved scientific attainments who, after gradua­ one of his blameless and kindly life, in tion in medicine at Edinburgh, served the sixty-ninth year of his age. in the Navy, declared that he was con­ On the day after, his body was opened fident Sir Joshua’s complaints were not by John Hunter, who with Sir George imaginary, but well founded, and had Baker and Mr. Home had attended Sir been produced by affection of some of Joshua in the last days of his illness. The the principal viscera. following is a copy of the postmortem A consultation was called at last dur­ examination originally in the possession ing which it was discovered that his of James F. Palmer, the great-nephew liver was enormously enlarged, a con­ of Sir Joshua, and printed on page 121 dition which his attending physicians in “The Works of John Hunter,” pub­ had overlooked, but when Drs. Heber­ lished by Longman Co., London, 1837, den and Carmichael Smith assisted of which Mr. Palmer was editor. them, they saw all too plainly that the abdominal viscera were affected, and In examining the body of the late Sir they concurred at once in the diagnosis. Joshua Reynolds we found no marks of The administration of mercury in eight­ disease in the cavity of the breast, except only a slight adhesion of the lungs to the eenth century dosage was applied in surrounding membranes on the left side. vain. Sir Joshua’s wonted cheerfulness In the cavity of the belly, the only dis­ now forsook him so that his friends eased part was the liver, which was of a could no longer dissipate his despond­ magnitude very uncommon, and at least ency. double of what is natural; it weighed Malone declared, “I cannot help eleven pounds, and was of a consistence thinking that we should not have lost which is usually called scirrhous. It had lost its natural colour and become of a procession. Never was a funeral of cere­ pale yellow. We found the optic nerve of mony attended with so much concern of the right side shrunk, and softer than all sorts of people. natural. There was more water in the ven­ Never was a public solemnity con­ tricles of the brain than what is generally ducted with more order, decorum and found at so advanced an age. dignity. After the lengthy procession had Signed: g. baker passed through Temple Bar, the gates JOHN HUNTER were shut to prevent any interruption E. HOME from carriages passing to and from the 24th Feb., 1792. City. The shops were shut, the windows of every house were filled, and the people Sir Joshua had requested that he in the streets who seemed to share in the might be buried without much expense general sorrow, beheld the whole with in St. Paul’s Cathedral. No one could respect and silence. better deserve the honour of sepulchre there than such a man as Reynolds. “It He lies in “the Painters’ Corner” by was conceded on all sides that by pre­ the side of Sir Christopher Wren, archi­ cept and example he had taught the tect of the edifice. 'iw-ent^v-one years practice of the art he professed and had later a statue to his memory by Flax­ added to it a thorough skill. He was man was placed in the cathedral. familiar with the literature of a scholar The story of Reynolds’ health is in­ and possessed the knowledge of a phi­ teresting, presenting a few remarkable losopher; in all his dealings he exhib­ incidents prior to the final tragedies. ited the manner of a gentleman.” In a common-place book which Burke and others were of the opinion Joshua kept was recorded that on that the brilliant era in art which Rey­ March 5, 1734-5, he was seized with the nolds had created demanded a public smallpox, which left its marks on his funeral. Accordingly his body was re­ face for life. On the twelfth day of the moved to the Academy in Somerset disease he was taken out of bed; two House, and on March 3, a long proces­ davs later he ventured downstairs; the sion of men of eminence and rank fol­ next day he stayed down a long time; lowed the remains to St. Paul’s. and, on March 22, his sister Betty was From a contemporary account of the seized with the disease. funeral I quote the following: While on the Island of Minorca, Reynolds met with a severe accident At half past three o’clock on last Satur­ day was interred the body of Sir Joshua which destroyed any good looks he may Reynolds in the vast crypt of St. Paul’s. have possessed. One day while on a The company who attended the funeral riding expedition his horse ran away, consisted of a great number of the most and fell down a precipice. His face was distinguished persons in the Kingdom much bruised and the upper lip lacer­ who were emulous in their desire of pay­ ated to such an extent that it became ing the last honours to the remains of necessary to cut away a portion so that him whose life had been distinguished by he carried the deep scar with him to his the exertion of the highest talent and the exercise of every virtue that can make a grave, and it is shown in his portraits man respectable and beloved. Forty-two of himself. coaches conveyed the mourners, and forty- During the first winter in Rome, nine empty carriages of the nobility and while copying one of Raphael’s works gentry added their encumbrance to the in the icy chambers of the Vatican he became chilled and feverish, presum­ shown with spectacles on his nose. In ably because of otitis, which left him his journals and biographers’ accounts deaf so that ever afterwards he was there is no reference to a weakness of forced to use an ear trumpet; by its aid sight requiring spectacles. he was able to take part in the conversa­ Until his day artists usually painted tion of his friends with great facility seated, but Reynolds usually painted and address, and such was the serenity standing, walking backwards and for­ of his temper that what he did not hear wards to observe his work. He adopted he never troubled those with whom he the habit also to relieve himself from conversed to repeat. While in the com­ the evils of his sedentary calling. He pany of one person he heard very well took little exercise, rarely going beyond without the aid of a trumpet. Wraxall what the practice of his art afforded. in his “Memoirs” records that Sir Another innovation was his use of un­ Joshua’s deafness precluded him from usually long handled brushes and pen­ mixing in or contributing to general cils. I have not found any reference to conversation; his trumpet held up to the time when he first wore glasses. The his ear he was gratified by the attention spectacles preserved in the Royal Acad­ of those who addressed to him their emy, I have been informed, are con­ discourses: a notice which the resources cave, yet I cannot believe that. Sir of his mind enabled him to repay with Joshua was nearsighted to any marked interest. degree. A myope could not have made After coming up to London he hardly such drawings as he made in his early had been acquainted with illness except years without the use of glasses. It was during the summer of 1764 when he not until late in life that he painted his was “seriously ill” for several weeks. own portraits with spectacles before his And again, in 1782, at the age of fifty­ eyes; the first is dated 1788, when he eight, while in the full enjoyment of his was sixty-five. I assume that by this usual health and vigor, he was attacked time he had reached the stage of pres­ by a paralytic affection. No descriptions byopia. of these seizures have been given in any It is, however, known that while of the biographies. The “paralysis” painting he was in the habit of using could not have been serious; in the glasses with double focus—not true middle of November he was ordered to Franklin spectacles according to White take the waters at Bath where he re­ Cooper—yet such as followed the ideas mained only two or three weeks. In a of the American philosopher, consisting few days he recovered his strength and of a spherical glass in the upper portion the malady never again manifested any enabling the painter to see distant, ob­ interference with his power's. On his jects clearly, and the lower section of return to town in December Fanny another radius which gave distinct Burney wrote that “he looks vastly well vision on the canvas or paper. and as if he had never been ill.” Reynolds was described as rather un­ At the age of sixty-six, on being con­ der the middle size in stature, well made gratulated on his healthy and youthful and extremedy active; his features blunt appearance, he replied that he felt as he and round; of a florid complexion and looked. a lively and pleasing aspect. His pe­ In portraits and other pictures of culiarity of expression when he scanned Reynolds in his mature years he is strangers was the searching look like a person accustomed to read the character by all his medical brethren. . . . He dis­ in the countenance. His numerous por­ played a talent for conversation, his man­ traits of himself have rendered his mild, ners being peculiarly pleasing to others. intelligent face familiar to everybody. . . . When the malady was beyond reach His manners calm, simple, and unas­ of his skill, the minds of the sick were consoled by his conversation, and their suming. He was an early riser—a man cares, anxieties and fears soothed by his whom application could not tire, nor presence.” constant labor subdue. Except for an occasional brief visit in the country and Sir George Baker was “that prosper­ a brief visit to France in 1768, and an­ ous and elegant scholar, the soundness other to the Low countries in 1781, he of whose judgment was acknowledged never left his workroom during his by all. ... To him the whole medical studio hours. world looked up with respect, and in While unsuccessful in my search for the treatment of any disease in the least a distinct record of Reynolds having degree unusual, if it was desired to consulted a surgeon, I have seen in some know all that had ever been said or letters in which Sir Joshua was men­ written on the subject, from the most tioned, the statement that he had sought remote antiquity, down to the case in the aid of “the most skilful oculist,” in question, a consultation was proposed all probability a successor of the Cheva­ with Sir George. From his erudition lier Taylor and his ilk. And, in another, everything was expected.” Baker be­ there was an allusion to “old women”— came famous through his discovery that descendants of Mrs. Mapp and her the lead used in the cider vessels was bonesetting sisters, perhaps. the source of colic and palsy prevalent That he would so quietly sit “in for many years in Devonshire. When mute consideration,” as one of his other vessels were used the disease dis­ friends wrote, leads me to believe that appeared. there had been periods of obstruction In my search through the writings of prior to that dark day in July. Warren and Baker, and in their bio­ Reynolds’ known physicians have graphical notices, I have not found a been immortalized in “The Gold single reference to the case of Sir Joshua Headed Cane.” Dr. Warren was con­ Reynolds. Such apathy on the part of sidered by the profession and the laity these two medical attendants should be to be a “penetrating physician, and taken by us to exemplify the state of most extraordinary man, in the accu­ ophthalmic medicine prior to 1800. racy of his prognoses, and the almost Lawrence, in the “Introduction” to his native sagacity with which he sees at a “Treatise,” published in London, 1833, glance the true nature of a complaint. gave a survey of the state of the subject, ... His professional career was bril­ somewhat as follows: The general body liant . . . yet he has left but few works of surgeons and physicians did not un­ to afford readers today an opportunity derstand diseases of the eye. The sub­ to judge of his worthiness.” ject was imperfectly understood and The “Cane” explains, that, “ . . . such neglected in the course of professional was his constant occupation in practice instruction. Many important affections among all classes of people from the high­ were entirely unnoticed; students who est to the lowest, that he had no leisure resorted to London for the completion for writing. . . . He was held in respect of their studies had really no means of learning about them. The subject was monies and became irritable at the in­ abandoned even by hospital surgeons, vitation, at being disturbed in his re­ and turned over to the “oculists.” Oph­ searches and “wished Reynolds and his thalmic surgery was reduced to a low friends would go to the devil.” ebb and in a state of almost total The term “gutta serena” as a diag­ darkness. nosis, given by I know not whom, was The “oculists” of the eighteenth cen­ used commonly at that time to cover tury were the irregular practitioners several affections. The term was de­ who had had no scientific training and scended from the Arabians who em­ were quite likely to be itinerant in their ployed it to designate complete amauro­ practice. The public naturally turned sis, but “amaurosis” itself needed a defi­ to them because during their journeys nition. It was usually applied to a loss from town to town they were enabled of sight not dependent on alteration in to see great numbers of the afflicted, so the transparency of the anterior seg­ that they became better acquainted ment of the globe. Commonly, in prac­ with the symptoms, and were skilful tice, the two eyes became affected in operations, yet such itinerants at­ equally and simultaneously. It was not tended merely to the organ. possible then to ascertain the condi­ We should not harshly criticize the tion of the retina and optic nerve as the attending physicians for not recogniz­ ophthalmoscope had not yet been in­ ing the import of the ocular disease. It vented. One commentator of Sir was seen so rarely by regular practi­ Joshua’s life expressed the opinion that tioners that the subject received but Reynolds’ affection in the early period little attention at the hands of English was the same as that which blinded Mil­ surgeons. Observant physicians were ton. In Milton’s case both of his eyes aware that the abdominal viscera in cer­ were blinded and the later course pre­ tain cases of orbital affections had be­ sented no such symptoms as those from come diseased—yet it was not until well which Reynolds suffered. In my opin­ into the nineteenth century that the ion Reynolds’ left eye contained a malignancy of melanosis began to at­ growth similar to what is known as tract attention, although it was not until melanotic sarcoma. The record that Sir the time of Virchow and von Graefe Joshua’s eye became swollen and had that the true nature of the affection taken on the appearance of extravasated became known. blood denotes the symptoms of mela­ It is a strange omission that no de­ nosis of the choroid as observed today. scription of the diseased globe is made In the early stages of that affection there in the postmortem report, and quite in­ may be simple obscuration of the sight, explicable that it was stated that it was but after a variable time as the mass be­ the optic nerve of the right side which gins to increase the contents of the they found shrunk and soft. Hunter globe it produces in effect a state of ab­ was too uncertain in his own health to solute glaucoma. In a short time the have written an account of his attend­ enlarging neoplasm bursts through the ance on Sir Joshua. I have not found sclera. The pain which the sufferers en­ any reference to the case in his pre­ dure is excruciating beyond description. served writings. To the untrained observer this stage Hunter was invited to act as a pall­ might give the appearance of extrava­ bearer at the funeral. He hated cere­ sated blood; especially when the pro­ truding mass is friable and clot-like Albert Grant purchased the land and particles are cast off. Mr. Cruikshank, presented it complete to the City. In who was not consulted until late in the the center is a monumental fountain Reynolds’ case, assumed that he saw and statue of Shakespeare; in the cor­ simply a hemorrhagic process, for the ners on granite bases are white marble absorption of which he reasonably busts of Reynolds, John Hunter, Ho­ sought to obtain the antiphlogistic ef­ garth the artist, and Sir Isaac Newton, fects of mercurials; and he applied all one-time residents within the pre­ leeches and blisters to increase that cincts. The bust of Sir Joshua, in the action. William Cruikshank was Sir northwest corner’, though less preten­ Joshua’s next door neighbor and a tious than the ceremonies of his funeral, friend of John Hunter. He shared with is a more lasting memorial to one of the Hunter the reputation of being one of most illustrious personages it is ever the profoundest anatomists of his gen­ likely to have within its walks. eration, and was distinguished as an op­ When I last visited the Square noisy erating surgeon, yet his confreres were cheap theatrical and cinema shows inclined to place little trust in the sa­ crowded out one’s recollections of the gacity of his conception of the nature accounts one had known of the famous of pathological states. and distinguished persons who once The agonizing distress which the frequented the area, and blurred the artist suffered as long as the swell­ vision of the stately houses once occu­ ing and pain persisted in his eye was suf­ pied by them. “No. 47” was occupied ficient to depress him and exhaust his for a time by a “Literary and Scientific strength. Yet in the meantime, at about Institution” and later on an “Auction the period when the tumor burst the House.” A tablet to the memory of globe, distress in the abdomen became Reynolds was affixed to the wall. Dur­ noticeable, because the chief seat of his ing the winter of 1938, alas, the house disease was, by that time, in the vital was demolished to become the site of a organ, the liver. For three months, in petrol station. spite of the increase of those additional Oliver Goldsmith, in his “Retalia­ symptoms accompanied by great loss of tion,” a delightful series of antemortem appetite and helplessness, the physi­ epitaphs of the most distinguished ar­ cians made no attempt to examine the tists of his day, described Reynolds in patient’s body, and they did not call in what are believed to have been the last others to help them in their studies of lines the poet wrote, published April, the case. It remained for one who had 1774. Sir Joshua who, in his early years, not been directly engaged to insist that had so patiently studied the works of the symptoms were those of disease of Raphael and Correggio was impatient the viscera. It is discreditable that Rey­ with the instantaneous and exuberant nolds’ physicians should have constantly raptures of artistic critics. In the con­ assured the patient that he might be temporary picture by Zoffani, showing benefited by exerting himself and un­ an assembly at the Academy, and in the dertaking physical exercise. statuary group by Nollekens, he is rep­ Leicester Square has deteriorated resented with his ear-trumpet. from its once princely state, and has Here Reynolds is laid, and, to tell my mind, passed through many vicissitudes and He has not left a better or wiser behind; was at last, ruinous, when in 1874 Mr. His pencil was striking, resistless, and grand; His manners were gentle, complying and When they judg’d without skill he was still bland. hard of hearing Still born to improve us in every part— When they talk’d of their Raphaels, Correg­ His pencil our faces, his manners our heart. gios, and stuff, To coxcombs averse, yet most civilly steering He shift’d his trumpet, and only took snuff.

References Gentleman’s Magazine. 39:198; 40:129; 41:82; Leicester Square: Its Associations and Its 47:137; 48:592, 1792. Worthies, by Tom Taylor, with a sketch of Felton, S. Testimonies to the Genius and Hunter’s Scientific Character and Works Memory of Sir Joshua Reynolds. London, by Richard Owen. Illst. London, Bickers Walton, 1792, pp. 87, 89-90. & Son, 1874. Malone, E. Some Account of the Life and Lee, S. Editor. Dictionary of National Biog­ Writings of Sir Joshua Reynolds. (See raphy. Cosmo Monkhouse. New York, Reynolds, Sir Joshua, Works. 3 v. London, Macmillan, 1885, 48:64-65. Cadell, 1801, v. 1, pref. pp. cix-cx. Cunningham, A. Life & Discoveries. Molloy, F. Sir Joshua and His Circle. New Chesnan. (Paris 1887.) York, Dodd, n.d. 2:599-600, 626-630. Claude-Phillips. (London 1893.) Northcote, J. Memoirs of Sir Joshua Rey­ Sir Joshua Reynolds, His Life and Art by nolds. 2 v. in 1, Phila., Carey, 1817, 1:278- Lord Donald Sutherland Gower, lld. Lon­ 279, 294-6. don, Geo. Bell & Sons, 1902. Sir Joshua Reynolds and His Works—glean­ Boulton, W. B. Sir Joshua Reynolds. New ings from his diary and from other sources York, Dutton, 1905. by Wm. Cotton, m.a., edited by John Bur­ These titles are but a partial list of the net, f.r.s. London, Longman Brown, G. & works consulted from time to time in the L. and Roberts, 1856. past ten years. The perusal of them presents to the reader a pleasing account of the social Timbs, J. Anecdote Biography. 2 v. London, and artistic life of London in the eighteenth Bentley, i860. 2: 132-34. century. London Quarterly Review. London, October Sir D’Arcy Power sent the photograph of 1865, 25:379-391; July & Oct., 1866, 120: the portrait of Percivall Pott; Mr. Lamb, 152. Secretary of the Royal Academy, supplied in­ Life by Tom Taylor—of Sir Joshua Reynolds formation concerning mementos of Sir (London, 1865). (Life and Times with no­ Joshua preserved at the Academy, and much tices of some of his contemporaries—com­ help was given me by Mr. S. Wood of the menced by Chas. R. Leslie—continued by library of the Royal College of Surgeons who Tom Taylor.) searched out references not available in this Quarterly Review. London. country. To these gentlemen I have sent my All the Year Round. London, 1871, 13:328-9. sincere thanks.