Samuel Johnson

Reynolds painted Samuel Johnson around 1756, capturing the lexicographer and literary critic at almost exactly the moment when the completion of his Dictionary (1755) had established him as the dominant figure in English letters. The friendship that developed from this first sitting between Reynolds and Johnson proved to be among the most consequential in either man's life: they founded The Club together in 1764, their social intimacy deepened across three decades, and Johnson's death in 1784 left Reynolds bereft. Johnson's recorded observations on Reynolds — 'the most invulnerable man I know; he is never vexed' — and Reynolds's recollections of Johnson contributed to Boswell's Life and to the collective memory of an extraordinary friendship. This early portrait shows Johnson before the gray wig, the worn face, and the physical tremors of later life had created the familiar caricatureable image; the sitter appears as a man of powerful concentrated intelligence before age had accentuated his eccentricities. Reynolds painted Johnson at least four times; this National Portrait Gallery canvas is the earliest and the most intimate.

Oil on canvas, the work demonstrates Joshua Reynolds's warm chiaroscuro and Grand Manner composition. The composition is carefully structured to balance visual elements, while the handling of light and color creates atmospheric coherence across the picture surface.