James Boswell

James Boswell, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, based on a work of circa 1785 -NPG 1675 - © National Portrait Gallery, London

© National Portrait Gallery, London

Mid-Georgian Portraits Catalogue

James Boswell

studio of Sir Joshua Reynolds
based on a work of circa 1785
28 1/2 in. x 23 3/4 in. (724 mm x 603 mm)
NPG 1675

This portraitback to top

Until the discovery of NPG 4452, this was considered to be Reynolds’s original portrait of Boswell and was associated with references properly applicable only to NPG 4452.

Referenceback to top

Davies 1946
M. Davies, National Gallery Catalogues, The British School, 1946 (describing NPG 1675 as the original portrait).

Graves & Cronin 1899-1901
A. Graves & W. V. Cronin, A History of the Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, 4 vols., 1899-1901, I, pp 99-100 (describing NPG 1675 as the original portrait).

Mannings 2000
D. Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds, 2 vols., 2000, no. 214b as a copy.

Waterhouse 1941
E. K. Waterhouse, Reynolds, 1941, p 79 (describing NPG 1675 as the original portrait).

Provenanceback to top

Sir Robert Peel after 18451 and before 1865; bought by the National Gallery 1871 (no.888); lent to the NPG 1912; ownership transferred to the Tate Gallery 1954 and to the NPG 1957.

1 Not in the Peel cat. in the Cabinet de l’Amateur, IV, 1845/6 (see M. Davies, National Gallery Catalogues, The British School, 1946, p 121).

Exhibitionsback to top

Parliament House, Edinburgh, 1973.


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, National Portrait Gallery, 2004, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.

View all known portraits for James Boswell

View all known portraits for Sir Joshua Reynolds