ΤΟ THE PRESIDENT, AND OTHER MEMBERS, OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY. GENTLEMEN, If the work which I have ventured to dedicate to the members of the Royal Academy had no other claim to your patronage and encouragement than the merit displayed by its author, I should not have considered it sufficiently entitled to the distinction which I have aspired to. But a work which professes to treat chiefly on Art may not be unacceptable to artists; and the Life of Sir Joshua Reynolds may be dedicated, with some appearance of propriety, to those who hold the first rank in that school of Art which has been founded on his practice and his principles. |