Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Learning to see nature and use models correctly is the core goal of artistic study.
In plain terms
All study should aim at learning how to observe nature well.
What can you take from it?
Focus your learning on observation and using references.

Where it applies

  • training a student
  • self improvement
  • skill building

Putting it to work

  • use reference photos
  • sketch outdoors
  • study masters

Questions to consider

  • What are you studying for?
  • How do you practice observation?

Another view

Theory and intuition also matter beyond just models.

More from Joshua Reynolds

  1. You are never to lose sight of nature; the instant you do, you are all abroad, at the mercy of every gust of fashion, without knowing or seeing the point to wh…

    Permalink to quote #15
  2. No Art can be grafted with success on another art. For though they all profess the same origin, and to proceed from the same stock, yet each has its own peculi…

    Permalink to quote #17
  3. Poetry operates by raising our curiosity, engaging the mind by degrees to take an interest in the event, keeping that event suspended, and surprising at last w…

    Permalink to quote #14

Related quotes

  1. Physics has in the main contented itself with studying the abridged edition of the book of nature.

    Arthur Stanley EddingtonArthur Stanley Eddington quote #2
  2. Our imagination is struck only by what is great; but the lover of natural philosophy should reflect equally on little things.

    Alexander von HumboldtAlexander von Humboldt quote #5
  3. Ballet for a rainy day Silent film of melting miracle play Dancing out there through my window To the backdrop of a slow descending grey

    Andy PartridgeAndy Partridge quote #13