James Boswell
1 portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds
- Overview
- Extended Catalogue Entry
© National Portrait Gallery, London
James Boswell
by Sir Joshua Reynolds
oil on canvas, 1785
30 in. x 25 in. (762 mm x 635 mm)
Purchased with help from the Art Fund, the Johnson Club and H.M. Government, 1965
Primary Collection
NPG 4452
On display in Room 18 on Floor 3 at the National Portrait Gallery
Sitterback to top
- James Boswell (1740-1795), Biographer of Dr Johnson. Sitter associated with 17 portraits.
Artistback to top
- Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), Painter and first President of the Royal Academy. Artist or producer associated with 1425 portraits, Sitter associated with 40 portraits.
Related worksback to top
- NPG 1675: James Boswell (after)
- NPG D20264: James Boswell (after)
- NPG D19988: James Boswell (after)
Linked publicationsback to top
- Smartify image discovery app
- 100 Writers, p. 43
- Ingamells, John, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, 2004, p. 61
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 67
- Uglow, Jenny, Character Sketches: Dr Johnson, His Club and Other Friends, 1998, p. 51
Events of 1785back to top
Current affairs
George Prince of Wales secretly marries his mistress Maria Fitzherbert in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act of 1772.Prime Minister William Pitt introduces a bill proposing parliamentary reform and the abolition of 'rotten boroughs' but is defeated.
Art and science
William Cowper publishes his best -known poem The Task.James Boswell publishes The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, narrating his travels with the late writer Samuel Johnson.
Physician and naturalist James Hutton presents his studies of local rocks to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, launching the era of scientific geology.
International
Warren Hastings resigns as Governor-General of Bengal and returns to England. His trial begins on charges of corruption in the administration of India.French sculptor Jean Antoine Houdon crosses the Atlantic to sculpt a statue of George Washington.
British government establishes a permanent land force in the Eastern Caribbean, based in Barbados.
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