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Project Blue Boy: History

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Between Sept. 2018 and March, 2020, one of the most iconic artworks in British and American history, The Blue Boy, made around 1770 by English painter Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788), underwent its first major technical examination and conservation treatment in public view.

Select a topic to explore the history of The Blue Boy
“Project Blue Boy” |The Artist | Who’s That Boy? | The Icon

“Project Blue Boy” 
Closeup view of Christina Milton O’Connell, Mary Ann and John Sturgeon Senior Paintings Conservator, removing discolored varnish with small swabs. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.

Closeup view of Christina Milton O'Connell, Mary Ann and John Sturgeon Senior Paintings Conservator, removing discolored varnish with small swabs. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.

For the first 4–5 months during the year-long exhibition, The Blue Boy was in the gallery as Christina O’Connell, The Huntington’s senior paintings conservator, worked on the painting performing examination and analysis, and then paint stabilization, surface cleaning, and removal of non-original varnish and overpaint. The painting then went off-view for four months while she performed structural work on the canvas and applied varnish with equipment that can’t be moved to the gallery space. Once structural work was completed, The Blue Boy returned to the gallery where visitors were able to witness the inpainting process until the close of the exhibition in March 2020.

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The Artist
Painting of a young man wearing an olive-green suit coat.

Thomas Gainsborough, Self-Portrait, ca. 1758–59, oil on canvas. | National Portrait Gallery, London.

After training as an artist in London, Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788) returned to his hometown in Suffolk and began painting portraits of local residents. In 1759, he moved his family to the fashionable spa town of Bath, hoping to raise the profile of his portrait practice and attract elite clientele.

Painting of a young woman in a gold dress pointing off-canvas.

Studying the Old Masters

Anthony van Dyck, Anne Kirke, ca. 1637, oil on canvas.

In Bath, Gainsborough studied paintings by the Old Masters, including the courtly portraits of Flemish artist Anthony van Dyck. These often feature a full-length figure, richly colored fabric, architectural details, and a breezy landscape. Van Dyck's portrait of Anne Kirke is in The Huntington's collection.

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Painting of a woman in an ivory-colored dress with elbow resting on a statue stand.

Studying the Old Masters

Thomas Gainsborough, Penelope, Viscountess Ligonier, 1770, oil on canvas. 

Gainsborough''s striking portrait of Penelope, Viscountess Ligonier, in the Huntington collection, shows his adoption of Van Dyck’s courtly portrait style. Gainsborough’s sophisticated portraits of celebrities and aristocrats rivaled those of Joshua Reynolds, the most prominent portrait painter in England at the time.

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Painting of a woman wearing a flowing amber dress with hand stretched out.

Studying the Old Masters

Joshua Reynolds, Jane, Countess Harrington, ca. 1778–79, oil on canvas. 

Unlike Gainsborough, who preferred painting his sitters in contemporary clothes, Joshua Reynolds included references to classical or Renaissance art in order to elevate the intellectual level of his portraits. Reynolds’s portrait of Jane, Countess Harrington, in the Huntington collection, shows a costume meant to recall Greek or Roman sculpture.

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Painting of a young boy in a powder-blue top.

Studying the Old Masters

Thomas Gainsborough, Edward Gardiner, ca. 1760–68, oil on canvas. | Tate.

The blue costume in The Blue Boy appears in several portraits of Gainsborough’s nephews, such as this one of Edward Gardiner. By mimicking the clothing of Van Dyck’s day, Gainsborough was not breaking his rule of avoiding the dress of the past. The outfit was in fact a masquerade costume of his time, one that paid tribute to the artist he admired above all others.

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Gainsborough first exhibited The Blue Boy in 1770 at the Royal Academy in London, where he aimed to attract a wider patronage. The painting might be read as a statement of the artist’s talent, ambition, and intention to emulate Van Dyck.

It certainly appeared so to artist Francis Hayman, who reportedly exclaimed, “It is as fine as a Van Dyck!”

Painting of a gallery full of people and wall-to-wall paintings.

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Who’s That Boy?

The Blue Boy was long believed to be a portrait of its first owner, Jonathan Buttall, a friend of the Gainsborough family. However, when the painting was first exhibited at London’s Royal Academy in 1770, the artist titled it Portrait of a Young Gentleman. The blue costume may be a clue: it appears in several portraits of the painter’s nephews.

A mostly brown painting of a young man with long curly hair, wearing a white lace collar.

About the Subject

One scholar has suggested that The Blue Boy depicts the artist’s nephew Gainsborough Dupont, who lived with his uncle from an early age and later served as his apprentice and studio assistant.

Image credit: Thomas Gainsborough, Gainsborough Dupont, ca. 1770–72, Oil on canvas.

An oval painting of a person with shoulder-length hair, wearing a blue silk shirt with a white lace collar.

About the Subject

This portrait of Dupont, painted a few years after The Blue Boy, shows him in what appears to be a very similar blue Van Dyck suit.

Image credit: Thomas Gainsborough, Gainsborough Dupont, ca. 1773, Oil on canvas.

A rough sketch painting of a boy with dark hair, wearing an orange collar.

About the Subject

No portraits of Jonathan Buttall are known to exist, but this portrait of Gainsborough Dupont shows a young man with a straight nose and brown hair that is longer in the back. Do you think that he might be Blue Boy?

Image credit: Thomas Gainsborough, Gainsborough Dupont, ca. 1773, Watercolor and chalk.

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The Icon

Henry and Arabella Huntington bought The Blue Boy in 1921 from art dealer Joseph Duveen, who had acquired it from the Duke of Westminster. Newspapers called it “the world’s most beautiful picture” and reported that the Huntingtons had bought it for $728,800, the highest price ever paid for a painting at the time.

A composite of two paintings, on left a woman, on right a man, both are seated and wearing black clothing.
A black and white photo of "The Blue Boy" painting on display in a gallery, surrounded by people.

National Gallery, London

To publicize The Blue Boy’s sale, Joseph Duveen engineered a series of exhibitions at the National Gallery in London and his firm’s New York showroom. He told his clients about the atmosphere of reverence in London, where there were “crowds round the picture.” Composer Cole Porter wrote “Blue Boy Blues,” mourning its departure

A black and white photo of "The Blue Boy" painting on display in a gallery, surrounded by people.

National Gallery, London

To publicize The Blue Boy’s sale, Joseph Duveen engineered a series of exhibitions at the National Gallery in London and his firm’s New York showroom. He told his clients about the atmosphere of reverence in London, where there were “crowds round the picture.” Composer Cole Porter wrote “Blue Boy Blues,” mourning its departure

Enduring Popularity

The Blue Boy is still among the world’s most recognizable British paintings. Its celebrity certainly stemmed from its reputation as one of Gainsborough’s most powerful works. The image has remained popular through countless reproductions, from prints and posters to textiles, ceramics, and dolls.

A collection of objects styled after the image of "The Blue Boy", including sculptures, lamps, and dishes.
A collection of sculptures styled after the image of "The Blue Boy."
A collection of objects styled after the image of "The Blue Boy", including lamps, and dishes.

Project Blue Boy

Conservation

Learn about the science behind the first major technical examination and conservation treatment of The Blue Boy.

Conservation Science
Conservation Science
conservationist inpainting The Blue Boy portrait

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Credits

Text by Melinda McCurdy
Graphic design by Catherine Bell
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Reproductions of paintings by Thomas Gainsborough:
Self-Portrait, ca. 1758–59: photo © National Portrait Gallery, London
Edward Gardiner, ca. 1760–68: photo © Tate
Gainsborough Dupont, ca. 1770–72: photo © Tate
Gainsborough Dupont, ca. 1773: Waddesdon (Rothschild Family), on loan since 1997; acc. no. 346.1997. Photo: © Waddesdon Image Library
Gainsborough Dupont, ca. 1773: photo © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
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All other images © Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
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Suggestions for further reading:
Catherine Hess and Melinda McCurdy, Blue Boy & Co.: European Art at the Huntington (2015)
Shelley M. Bennett, The Art of Wealth: The Huntingtons in the Gilded Age (2013)
Susan Sloman, “Gainsborough’s ‘Blue boy,’” Burlington Magazine (2013)
Robyn Asleson and Shelley M. Bennett, British Paintings at the Huntington (2001)