Ramsay Richard Reinagle, R.A. (London 1775-1862)

From an early age Reinagle, the eldest son of the artist Philip Reinagle (1748-1833) and his wife Jane, showed a precocious talent for painting; he exhibited his first painting at the Royal Academy, at the age of twelve. He went to Europe to study landscape painting and the Old Masters between 1793 and 1798. In 1805 he joined the Society of Painters in Watercolours and served as its President from 1808-1812. He was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1814 and a full academician in 1823 when he assisted with the restoration of Leonardo da Vinci's cartoon The Virgin and Child (National Gallery, London).