The two masterpieces of The Huntington's Gallery

Thomas Gainsborough, The Blue Boy, c.1770.

Thomas Gainsborough was born in 1727 in Sudbury (East of England). He spent several years in London working with the French artist Hubert Gravelot when he was a teenager. In 1759, he moved to Bath (West of England). His reputation, especially as a portraitist, grew quickly. He began to exhibit his work in London in the early 1760s. His main rival was Joshua Reynolds. Gainsborough died of cancer in 1788 in London.

We don't know exactly when Gainsborough painted The Blue Boy. Stylistically, it's clear that the painting must date after the middle of the 1760s but before the 1780s. To date this portrait, we know that Gainsborough exhibited a portrait of a man in Van Dyck dress at the Royal Academy in 1770.

This painting is a tribute to he admired above all others : Antoon Van Dyck, who was making portraits of the aristocracy in the 17th century. Gainsborough painted this piece apparently for his own pleasure. This "blue boy" is Jonathan Buttall as mentionned in the book of Edward Edwards (an associate of Gainsborough at the Royal Academy), Anecdotes of Painters: "This was the portrait of a Master Buttall, whose father was then a very considerable ironmonger, in Greek-street, Soho". Buttall was a personnal friend of the artist. The vitality of this masterpiece is given by the blue of the costume.

Jonathan Buttall had financial difficulties in the 1790s and his possession were sold in December 1796. The sale was followed by the artist Joseph Farington, who noted in his diary: "Gainsboroughs picture of a Boy in a Blue Vandyke dress sold for 35 guineas".
 Later, the portrait remained in the Westminster collection until it was bought in 1921 by Henry E. Huntington. After several exhibitions in London, the painting left England and arrived in New York on February ,7, 1922. It was exhibited at the Duveen Galleries from February 14 to March 7. The Blue Boy arrived finally in San Marino on March 21, 1922.