Sir Joshua Reynolds' Discourses by Joshua Sir Reynolds is a collection of Reynolds's speeches before various academics and other artists on painting. Reynolds was one of the major European painters of the 18th century, and he promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on the idealization of the imperfect. Excerpt: "Gentlemen,—An academy in which the polite arts may be regularly cultivated is at last opened among us by royal munificence. This must appear an event in the highest degree interesting, not only to the artists but to the whole nation. It is indeed difficult to give any other reason why an Empire like that of Britain should so long have wanted an ornament so suitable to its greater than that slow progression of things which naturally makes elegance and refinement the last effect of opulence and power. An institution like this has often been recommended upon considerations merely mercantile. But an academy founded upon such principles can never affect even its narrow purposes. If it has an origin no higher, no taste can ever be formed in it which can be useful even in manufactures; but if the higher arts of design flourish, these inferior ends will be answered of course."