Genius Fan

Portrait Summary

Subject: Samuel Johnson, 18 September, 1709 – 13 December, 1784.

• Johnson was one of the most famous men of the Eighteenth century. The painting was made around 1772, when he was 63 years of age. By that time he’d been well-known-famous for nearly two decades. He was so well known, famous people from across the social strata were acquaintances or friends: from King George III, through all the famous writers, thinkers, travellers, scientists, religious leaders of the day, right down to the poor and destitute, some of whom he took into his own home. He wrote the first proper dictionary of the English language, published in 1755, tried his hand and succeeded at poetry, drama, history, commentary and essays. We know him, possibly more than we know anyone else in history, thanks to his friend James Boswell who wrote his biography, the Life of Samuel Johnson.
• Finally, his appearance and behaviour: He was tall, bulky, some said ugly, and definitely dishevelled. Modern scholars have studied reports of his tics, twitches and physical contortions, his spoken outbursts, unpredictable breathing patterns, repetitive, unusual or shocking behaviours…as some form of Tourette’s Syndrome. But his conversation many think of as astonishing. He was highly educated, morally reinforced and extremely quick witted. At the same time he was opinionated, argumentative and intellectually domineering, impatient, dismissive and exclusive. He was loved and venerated by friends and acquaintances during his life and in death. And millions of words have been written about him, his life and his works.
• Artist: This portrait of Johnson was painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), one of the greatest painters of the Eighteenth century and a great friend of Johnson’s. Reynolds painted many of the great men and women of the age and turned his art studio into something of a factory in which skilled assistants blocked out the general backgrounds and Reynolds himself made the masterstrokes, bringing the images to life with likeness. Reynolds was so close a friend with Johnson that he got to know his struggles with loneliness (a kind of depression) and set up The Club specifically to give him a weekly ‘appointment’ in which he met with other friends to eat, drink and indulge in conversation and debate.
• More information: See the Tate Gallery, London
• Samuel Johnson on Wikipedia
• Joshua Reynolds on Wikipedia