Famous but Nameless was published in the Weekend Review section of The Times from August 2003 to February 2004. Below are selections from the column. previous home next

www.timesonline.co.uk/weekendreview games review 39

FAMOUS BUT NAMELESS THE BLUE BOY

The boy in the vivid blue costume is Jonathan Buttall (1752-1805). He was the son of a prosperous hardware merchant who was a friend of Gainsborough’s, and in later life took over his father’s business, also branching into property speculation. Jonathan was something of a pawn in a curious colouristic war between Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds, the 18 th century’s other major portraitist -- the Blue Boy was a reaction to Reynolds’ earlier Brown Boy. Reynolds modelled his style on antique Italian painters who favoured ‘warm’ red, yellow and brown tones; brown was also the colour caused by oxidation of the antique varnish. Gainsborough, deriving his style from Flemish and French models, favoured ‘cool’ blues and greens. A later Gainsborough portrait, the Pink Boy, was an attempt to reconcile the two schools.