Jonathan Richardson

Richardson was even more influential as a writer; he is credited with inspiring Joshua Reynolds to paint and theorise with his book An Essay on the Theory of Painting.[1] This book is credited with being "the first significant work of artistic theory in English."[2]

Training under John Riley is recorded. Thomas Hudson is recorded as having studied under Jonathan Richardson. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is painting. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are portrait. Places of work recorded in the authority are London. Work by Jonathan Richardson is recorded in the collections of J. Paul Getty Museum, Tate, National Gallery of Victoria, National Galleries Scotland and Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

• Name — Jonathan Richardson • Born — 12 January 1667 • Birthplace — London, England • Died — 28 May 1745 • Place of death — Bloomsbury, London, England

Richardson was born in the parish of St. Botolph, Bishopsgate in London on 12 January 1667 to William and Mary Richardson. In 1672 his father died and his mother married again.[3] Richardson became a scrivener's apprentice, but he was released early when his master retired. Richardson was lucky enough to be taken on as a painting apprentice by John Riley. He learnt the art of portraiture from Riley whilst living at his master's house. Richardson's wife was Riley's niece. Richardson was even more influential as a writer than as a painter according to Samuel Johnson. He is credited with inspiring Joshua Reynolds to paint and theorise with his 1715 book An Essay on the Theory of Painting. In 1722, Richardson published with his son, also Jonathan (1694–1771), An Account of Some of the Statues, Bas-Reliefs, Drawings, and Pictures in Italy (1722). The book was compiled by Richardson the elder using material gathered by his son whilst touring Italy in 1720.[4] This was a very popular book and was used by young men as a basis for their Grand Tour. It was said that the book became the basis for future purchases of art by wealthy collectors and therefore shaped English interest in foreign old masters.[5] It also provided an important model for Johann Joachim Winckelmann's History of Art (1764).[6] Richardson and his son also co-authored their Explanatory Notes and Remarks on Milton's Paradise Lost (1734). These notes are, in part, a response to Richard Bentley's 1732 edition of Paradise Lost, in which he frequently faults Milton's style or places exceptionable passages in square brackets, claiming they are the work of another hand. The Richardsons' responses to Bentley helped to lay the foundation for subsequent interpretation of the poem.[7]

• An Essay on the Theory of Painting (1715) • An Essay on the Whole Art of Criticism as it Relates to Painting and an Argument in Behalf of the Science of a Connoisseur (1719) • An Account of Some of the Statues, Bas-Reliefs, Drawings, and Pictures in Italy (1722) • Explanatory notes and remarks on Milton's Paradise lost By J. Richardson, father and son. With the life of the author, and a discourse on the poem.

• Illustration — Fisher Harding (1701) • Illustration — William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper (c. 1710) • Illustration — Sir Richard Hoare (c. 1712) • Illustration — Sir William Wyndham, 3rd Baronet (c. 1713–1714) • Illustration — Horace Walpole (1735) • Illustration — Alexander Pope (c. 1736) • Illustration — Thomas Fanshawe (c. 1736)

His recorded language was English. One child is recorded: Jonathan Richardson the younger.