Samuel Johnson

Reynolds painted Samuel Johnson around 1756, one of the earliest of several portraits he made of the great lexicographer, essayist, and literary critic. Johnson and Reynolds were the closest of friends — Johnson called Reynolds "the most invulnerable man I know" — and their thirty-year friendship was central to both men's lives. This early portrait shows Johnson before the completion of his Dictionary (1755) had made him the dominant figure in English letters. Now in the National Portrait Gallery, it documents the beginning of one of the great friendships in English cultural history.

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.