"An exact imitation, therefore, of those pictures, is likely to fill the student’s mind with false opinions, and to send him back a colourist of his own formation, with ideas equally remote from nature and from art, from the genuine practice of the masters and the real appearances of things."
Seven Discourses Delivered in the Royal Academy by the President [Discourses on Art]
From 1769 to 1772 Reynolds' lectures were delivered annually, with each discourse published shortly after its delivery. After 1772, the lectures were delivered biennially. The first seven discourses were collected and published together in 1778. In 1797, the first collected edition of all fifteen appeared, with a second edition issued in 1798. See the <a href="http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/23429?docPos=1">ODNB</a>.<br>
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Sir Joshua Reynolds, <u>Seven Discourses Delivered in the Royal Academy by the President</u> (London: T. Cadell, 1778). &lt;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=FS4GAAAAQAAJ">Link to Google Books</a>&gt;&lt;<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2176/2176-h/2176-h.htm">Link to Project Gutenberg</a>&gt;