James Boswell

Reynolds painted James Boswell around 1785, six years before the publication of the Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) that would secure Boswell's permanent place in literary history. Reynolds, Johnson, and Boswell formed the innermost circle of The Club — the dining society established in 1764 whose membership eventually included Edmund Burke, Oliver Goldsmith, Edward Gibbon, David Garrick, and Adam Smith. Reynolds was present at many of the conversations that Boswell recorded, and the painter's own recollections of Johnson contributed to Boswell's monumental biography. The portrait captures Boswell in middle age, some years after his most intensive period of Johnsonian observation and during the period when he was wrestling the vast mass of his journal notes into publishable form. Boswell's personal life was marked by alcoholism and episodes of severe depression that his journal recorded with unflinching candor — the same candor he brought to his portrait of Johnson. Reynolds painted several members of The Club, and taken together these portraits constitute a visual record of the most brilliant literary circle in the history of English letters. The National Portrait Gallery's holding of this canvas reflects the group's enduring significance to British cultural identity.

Reynolds presents Boswell in an informal, conversational pose that suits his reputation as a raconteur. The warm palette and lively expression contrast with the darker background, focusing attention on the sitter's animated features.