Royal Academy thumb|The hall at Loton Park, . Showing, in situ, on the far wall Reynolds' Frances Anne Crewe (Miss Greville), as St. Genevieve () Reynolds was one of the earliest members of the Royal Society of Arts, helped found the Society of Artists of Great Britain, and in 1768 became the first president of the Royal Academy of Arts, a position he was to hold until his death. In 1769, he was knighted by George III, only the second English artist to be so honoured.Wendorf, Richard, Sir Joshua Reynolds: The Painter in Society (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1998), p 46. His Discourses, a series of lectures delivered at the academy between 1769 and 1790, are remembered for their sensitivity and perception. In one lecture, he expressed the opinion that "invention, strictly speaking, is little more than a new combination of those images which have been previously gathered and deposited in the memory." William Jackson in his contemporary essays said of Reynolds 'there is much ingenuity and originality in all his academic discourses, replete with classical knowledge of his art, acute remarks on the works of others, and general taste and discernment'.Jackson, William, The Four Ages including essays on various subjects, London: Cadell & Davies, 1798.
Royal Academy thumb|The hall at Loton Park . Showing, in situ, on the far wall Reynolds' Frances Anne Crewe (Miss Greville), as St. Genevieve () Reynolds was one of the earliest members of the Royal Society of Arts, helped found the Society of Artists of Great Britain, and in 1768 became the first president of the Royal Academy of Arts, a position he was to hold until his death. In 1769, he was knighted by George III, only the second English artist to be so honoured.Wendorf, Richard, Sir Joshua Reynolds: The Painter in Society (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1998), p 46. His Discourses, a series of lectures delivered at the academy between 1769 and 1790, are remembered for their sensitivity and perception. In one lecture, he expressed the opinion that "invention, strictly speaking, is little more than a new combination of those images which have been previously gathered and deposited in the memory." William Jackson in his contemporary essays said of Reynolds 'there is much ingenuity and originality in all his academic discourses, replete with classical knowledge of his art, acute remarks on the works of others, and general taste and discernment'.Jackson, William, The Four Ages including essays on various subjects, London: Cadell & Davies, 1798.