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Which Italian Renaissance painters most influenced Joshua Reynolds's use of colour and light?
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Joshua Reynolds
Joshua Reynolds, detail of self-portrait, oil on panel, 1780; in the Royal Academy of Arts, London.
During his travels through Italy, Joshua Reynolds was profoundly influenced by the great Venetian painters of the 16th century, specifically Titian, Jacopo Tintoretto, and Paolo Veronese.1
The Venetian traditionās emphasis on colour and the effects of light and shading had a lasting impact on Reynolds's own work. Although he frequently advocated for the study of the sculptural definition of form characteristic of Florentine and Roman painters, his own paintings remained deeply inspired by the Venetian style. In his later career, he even attempted to replicate the effects achieved by Titian and Tintoretto by utilizing transparent glazes over monochrome underpaintings.1