Johnson and His Books

Photograph

George Zobel. Portrait of Samuel Johnson. London: P & D. Colnaghi, [1854]. Mezzotint. MS Hyde 100

A young, highly romanticized Johnson is depicted resting on a copy of his play Irene. The original painting upon which Zobel's mezzotint is based, now in the Johnson birthplace museum in Lichfield, is no longer attributed to Reynolds as here.