How did Joshua Reynolds differ from Thomas Gainsborough in artistic training and portrait style?

Sir Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough were leading 18th-century British painters with fundamentally different approaches to their craft.

Artistic Training

• Reynolds: He followed a formal academic path. After an apprenticeship with portraitist Thomas Hudson, he traveled to Italy to study classical Greco-Roman sculpture and Renaissance masters. He became a proponent of the "Grand Style," emphasizing scholarship, formal rhetoric, and the study of Old Masters to elevate the status of British painting.1
• Gainsborough: He lacked a formal academic background, having trained under the illustrator and engraver Hubert Gravelot. He was an instinctive painter who rejected the academic tradition and the "pomposity" of history painting, preferring a more direct and experimental approach.23

Portrait Style

• Reynolds: His work often employed the "grand manner," featuring classical poses, mythological or allegorical allusions, and structured compositions inspired by his academic studies.13
• Gainsborough: His style was lighter, more natural, and less artificial. He relied on the sitter's own presence and symbols of office rather than classical props. While he admired Anthony Van Dyck, his portraits are noted for their delicate touch, fluid brushwork, and focus on general effect rather than rigid finish.435