Young Sam Johnson

Unidentified artist. Portrait of Samuel Johnson. [ca. 1736]. Oil on metal. *2003JM-213

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• HOLLIS Catalog Entry

Little is known about this work, the earliest portrait of Johnson. It belonged to his wife Elizabeth, and was probably painted shortly after their marriage in 1735. Johnson is said to have later given it to Elizabeth Barber, the wife of his longtime servant, Frank. The Johnsonian Herman Liebert said of it:

Although it is not of artistic merit, it has considerable evidentiary value. The characteristic tilt of the head to the right, the blandness of the sightless left eye, the heavy, rather sensual features ...seen in the later portraits, of which, in its artlessness, it is convincing confirmation.