[8] Various sources attest to his nearsightedness, which led Johnson to read text with the material very close to his face;[8] however, contemporary accounts of his capacity for seeing are often contradictory, with some describing his vision as reasonably good.

I said in reply that Reynolds had no such difficulties about himself, and that he might observe the picture which hung up in the room where we were talking represented Sir Joshua holding his ear in his hand to catch the sound.

[11] UCI professor of English Robert Folkenflik connected Reynolds' self-portrait and his portrait of Johnson to a Dutch tradition of representing the human senses in art.

[6] In his biography of Johnson, Kai Kin Yung suggests the portrait was intended to be a joke, and then states that "Reynolds's painting triumphantly transformed his friend's defect into an engaging study.

[17] Susan Rather notes that Reynolds often made more introspective and singular likenesses of close friends in private contexts, which explains Johnson's focus on reading, rather than on the viewer.

[18] English art critic William Hazlitt commented that the portrait "has altogether that sluggishness of outward appearance,—that want of quickness and versatility,—that absorption of faculty, and look of purblind reflection, which were characteristic of his mind.

"[19] Blinking Sam gained popularity as an Internet meme template beginning in 2012, often used to express confusion or shock in reaction to a line of text or an absurd situation.