[1] Reynolds was born on the family farm in New Lenox, Illinois, the youngest of eight children, only three of whom survived childhood.
However, before accepting his award, he married and he and his wife Frances departed for Munich where a number of the American artists studied.
[2] Reynolds entered the Royal Academy in Munich and studied privately with the artist Simon Hollósy.
[3] Reynolds met Virginia Richmond Keeney, a young Chicago miniature painter.
Reynolds passed the difficult concours for admittance to the Ecole de Beaux Arts, the official French national academy.