Joshua Reynolds Samuel Johnson,
about 1772-8
Tate © 2005
(1709-1784)
'Johnson to be sure has a roughness in his manner: but no man alive has a more tender heart. He has nothing of the bear but his skin.'
Oliver Goldsmith
Johnson's reputation was secured by the publication of his Dictionary of the English Language in 1755. He became a close friend of Reynolds, who said he had 'formed my mind'. Johnson was a fervent Tory, and the two grew more distant as Reynolds gravitated towards the Whig politician Charles James Fox. Johnson's reputation rests not only on his publications, including The Lives of the English Poets 1779-81, but also on Boswell's descriptions of his eccentricities, brilliant conversation and opinionated outbursts, especially against the Scots.