Sir Joshua Reynolds Sarah Siddons as The Tragic Muse - 1784 Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens From the exhibition A Passion for Performance: Sarah Siddons and her Portraitists, 27th July - 26th September 1999. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. Sir Joshua Reynolds (July 16, 1723 - February 23, 1792) was the most important and influential of 18th century English painters, specialising in portraits and promoting the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was one of the founders and first President of the Royal Academy. George 固opFoto