The book is an in-depth biography of Joshua Reynolds, the first President of the Royal Academy of Arts, and the context of the age within which he worked. As a young man, he spent time in Rome and was inspired to become an artist. He quickly rose to prominence in the mid-18th century and remained influential as a high-society painter in London for forty years. Ian McIntyre traces the development of his style and analyses his work in detail. His personal relationships are also explored. Reynolds never married and had an uneasy relationship with his sisters. Yet he was also friends with some of the greatest names of the age: Samuel Johnson, Edmund Burke and Oliver Goldsmith. He was one of the most renowned painters of his day and had a significant influence on subsequent British artists.