Samuel Johnson
- Overview
- Extended Catalogue Entry
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Samuel Johnson
by Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, 1st Bt, after a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds
painted plaster figure, 1881
17 in. (432 mm) high
Given by Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, 1st Bt, 1881
Primary Collection
NPG 621
Sitterback to top
- Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), Poet, critic and lexicographer. Sitter associated with 51 portraits.
Artistsback to top
- Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, 1st Bt (1834-1890), Sculptor. Artist or producer associated with 34 portraits, Sitter in 16 portraits.
- 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.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Ingamells, John, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, 2004, p. 293
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 341
Events of 1881back to top
Current affairs
Benjamin Disraeli dies of bronchitis. He refuses a state funeral and is buried next to his wife, Mary Ann Viscountess Beaconsfield.Gladstone's Irish Land Act is passed in a bid to stop violence carried out by the republican Land League, conducted in protest at the 1870 Land Act.
Henry Mayers Hyndman forms the Marxist Democratic Federation.
Art and science
The Natural History Museum is opened on Exhibition Road, South Kensington. The museum, a landmark gothic design by the architect Alfred Waterhouse, was built to house specimens from the natural sciences, previously in the British Museum's collection. Today, the museum comprises of over 70 million items, and is a world-renowned research centre.International
Alexander II is assassinated in a bomb attack by members of a left-wing revolutionary movement. He was succeeded by his son, Tsar Alexander III.US President James Garfield is shot by Charles Guiteau.
The first Anglo-Boer war ends. The war is started by a Boer uprising, as the British had annexed the Transvaal in 1877. Following Britain's defeat at the Battle of Majuba Hill, a truce is signed giving the Boers self-government and later independence.
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