Blackwood's Magazine was the first of the mainstream periodicals to review Modern Painters I. Driven by indignation at the challenge to traditional theories of art and the condemnation of the old masters, the critic John Eagles, a firm believer in the aesthetic theories outlined in Reynolds's Discourses (1769-90) (see here), subjects the work to ridicule (see here). While crediting the author with clarity and expression (see here), he comments on Ruskin's style (see here) (as would the later Ruskin). Attacking the author's definition of taste (see here), Eagles accuses him of forgetting that the role of art is to transform nature through the imagination (see here). Eagles maintained that the author's enthusiastic support of Turner amounted to obsession (see here) and concluded that the work would have little influence (see here).