Something Borrowed, Something Blue

It was once the most expensive painting in the world, and when it was sold 100 years ago, 90,000 people came to see it over three weeks at the National Gallery in London before it set sail for California and the collection of the railroad and real-estate magnate Henry E. Huntington. 

"We have been to say good-bye to a boy who is leaving England, in a day or two, forever," The Times wrote in January 1922. "He received us dressed in a beautiful blue satin suit." The gallery's then director wrote "au revoir" on the back of the painting. 

Now, Thomas Gainsborough's Blue Boy is back at the National Gallery for a special centenary guest appearance, a chance to see what all the fuss was about and why Huntington paid the astronomical sum of $728,000 (£182,000) for it. All the hype surrounding the sale even inspired Cole Porter to write a song about it -- The Blue Boy Blues: "a silver dollar took me and my collar to show the slow cowboys just how boys in England used to be dressed." 

The Blue Boy itself is at the centre of a small free exhibition looking at how Gainsborough's 1770 painting draws on the grand manner of full-length portraiture by Anthony van Dyck. And that's fine as far as it goes, but unfortunately it doesn't go very far. 

Extremely surprisingly, what this display does not give any hint of is the broader cultural and popular impact of The Blue Boy -- either in the run-up to the sale, as what was then Gainsborough's most famous work, or since, as a bit of a gay icon, and in the world of the movies: Marlene Dietrich dressed up in a Blue Boy costume, as did Shirley Temple. Even Quentin Tarantino referenced it. You get the feeling the National Gallery has decided to shun the fun.... As Cole Porter wrote, "if Mr Gainsborough knew, I know he'd frown."

The painting itself is very, very Gainsborough -- a character in the finest of costumes in front of a rather indeterminate landscape. The van Dyck suit was actually a studio prop, and the identity of the sitter is uncertain. It's recently been suggested that it's Gainsborough's nephew and only apprentice, Gainsborough Dupont, who would have been 15 or 16 when it was made in 1770. 

Gainsborough aspired to emulate van Dyck's achievements in portraying Charles I and his court, and the Flemish painter's work was popular among Gainsborough's patrons. The style too -- Gainsborough's sitters were happy to don van Dyck costumes. If you want an inspiration for The Blue Boy's suit, then you'll find it in van Dyck's portrait of Lord John Stuart and his Brother, Lord Bernard Stuart, who are also only aged about 16 or 17, and are about to set off for a tour of the Continent. Gorgeous, certainly, but don't their bodies appear rather elongated?

There's a junior version, too. George and Francis Villiers were the sons of the murdered Duke of Buckingham, brought up at the royal court, and even though George is no older than seven, he poses self-assuredly, hand on hip. His younger brother looks to him for inspiration. 

George's pose is the one imitated by The Blue Boy. And while George survived the Civil War, Francis and the two Stuart brothers died in the conflict. 

Two other Gainsboroughs in the room reinforce the influence of van Dyck on the Georgian artist. A 1785 portrait of the actress Sarah Siddons reproduces van Dyck's blues and golds in her clothing and sets her in front of a regal red backdrop. And then there are the Linley sisters, both professional singers, again painted in those van Dyck-toned fabrics and in a similar manner to the Stuart brothers, one gazing dreamily into the distance, the other looking straight at the viewer. 

A suggested tour takes you round the National to discover more influences on Gainsborough, including Titian and Rubens, and work by him that they influenced. It's not that exciting an excursion, but most enticingly, it leads you finally to The Red Boy, Thomas Lawrence's portrait of the six- or seven-year-old Charles William Lambton, son of a Whig politician, which has just come into the gallery's collection. It was painted a little over half a century after The Blue Boy. 

Seated on a rocky promontory, overlooking the sea, young Charles is presented as being on the cusp of a journey through life. Alas, he died of TB aged 13. 

Regarded as a highlight of Lawrence's later career, The Red Boy was the first painting to be featured on a British postage stamp, back in 1967. In our view, it's a much warmer picture than the Gainsborough. 

By the way, if you're wondering what the Huntington Art Gallery in California has got in exchange for letting The Blue Boy back across the Atlantic, the answer is a loan of the National's Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump, painted by Joseph Wright of Derby in 1768. That makes it pretty nearly contemporaneous with the Gainsborough, though it's far, far away in spirit and subject matter. And, to be frank, a rather more interesting painting. 

Practicalities

Gainsborough's Blue Boy is on at the National Gallery in London until May 15. It's open daily from 1000 to 1800, with lates on Fridays to 2100. There's no charge to visit this display, but it's advisable to book in advance to be sure of getting into the gallery, and you can do that here. Allow 40-45 minutes or so to see the display and do the associated mini-tour. The National Gallery is on the north side of Trafalgar Square, just a couple of minutes from Charing Cross or Leicester Square stations on the rail and Underground networks.

Images

Thomas Gainsborough, The Blue Boy, 1770. © Courtesy of the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California
Anthony van Dyck, Lord John Stuart and his Brother, Lord Bernard Stuart, about 1638, National Gallery, London. © National Gallery, London
Anthony van Dyck, George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, and Lord Francis Villiers, 1635, Royal Collection Trust. © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2022
Thomas Gainsborough, Elizabeth and Mary Linley, about 1772, retouched 1785, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London. © By Permission of the Trustees of the Dulwich Picture Gallery, London
Sir Thomas Lawrence, Portrait of Charles William Lambton ('The Red Boy'), 1825, National Gallery, London. © National Gallery, London