DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68073#0406
380 old world masters
his right hand and very conspicuously standing forth from a landscape
background with a dark, cloudy sky.
The following notes from the Farington Diary, recently published,
bring us into relation with the two early sales.
Under date of Dec. 15, 1796, we find:
“Buttall’s sale. I went to Gainsborough’s picture of a Boy in a
Blue Vandyke Dress sold for 35 guineas. Several of his drawings were
sold in pairs. Some went so high as 8 guineas and a half the
pair.”
“May 25, 1802. I painted till four o’clock and then went to Nes-
bitt’s sale in Grafton Street, where I met Hoppner, who had pur-
chased the Boy in Blue Dress by Gainsborough, which was Buttal’s,
for 65 guineas. At Buttalls sale it was sold for 35 to Mr. Nesbitt.”
The picture is in marvellous condition. When Lord Ronald Suther-
land-Gower saw it in the Duke of Westminster’s Collection before it
came to America, he exclaimed:
“The Blue Boy at Grosvenor House has all the glamor and charm
of a portrait of a fairy prince.”
These few words explain the spell that the picture seems to cast
upon every one who sees it, for whenever The Blue Boy has been
exhibited crowds have stood enraptured before it.
Regarding Mr. Nesbitt’s connection with the picture we have the
following story from the Rev. J. T. Trimmer, Vicar of Marston-on- -
Dove, Derbyshire:
“Many years ago there resided at Heston a Mr. Nesbitt, a person
of substance and a companion of George, Prince of Wales. He once
possessed Gainsborough’s Blue Boy and in the following way. He
was dining with the Prince. ‘Nesbitt,’ said the Prince, ‘that picture,
(pointing to the Blue Boy) shall be yours.’ At first he thought the
Prince must be joking, but, finding he was decidedly serious, Nesbitt,
who was a beau of the first water, made all suitable acknowledgments
for H. R. H.’s generosity and next morning the Blue Boy arrived, fol-
lowed in due time by a bill for £300, which he had the satisfaction of
paying. I heard Mr. Nesbitt many years ago tell the story at my
father’s table.”
his right hand and very conspicuously standing forth from a landscape
background with a dark, cloudy sky.
The following notes from the Farington Diary, recently published,
bring us into relation with the two early sales.
Under date of Dec. 15, 1796, we find:
“Buttall’s sale. I went to Gainsborough’s picture of a Boy in a
Blue Vandyke Dress sold for 35 guineas. Several of his drawings were
sold in pairs. Some went so high as 8 guineas and a half the
pair.”
“May 25, 1802. I painted till four o’clock and then went to Nes-
bitt’s sale in Grafton Street, where I met Hoppner, who had pur-
chased the Boy in Blue Dress by Gainsborough, which was Buttal’s,
for 65 guineas. At Buttalls sale it was sold for 35 to Mr. Nesbitt.”
The picture is in marvellous condition. When Lord Ronald Suther-
land-Gower saw it in the Duke of Westminster’s Collection before it
came to America, he exclaimed:
“The Blue Boy at Grosvenor House has all the glamor and charm
of a portrait of a fairy prince.”
These few words explain the spell that the picture seems to cast
upon every one who sees it, for whenever The Blue Boy has been
exhibited crowds have stood enraptured before it.
Regarding Mr. Nesbitt’s connection with the picture we have the
following story from the Rev. J. T. Trimmer, Vicar of Marston-on- -
Dove, Derbyshire:
“Many years ago there resided at Heston a Mr. Nesbitt, a person
of substance and a companion of George, Prince of Wales. He once
possessed Gainsborough’s Blue Boy and in the following way. He
was dining with the Prince. ‘Nesbitt,’ said the Prince, ‘that picture,
(pointing to the Blue Boy) shall be yours.’ At first he thought the
Prince must be joking, but, finding he was decidedly serious, Nesbitt,
who was a beau of the first water, made all suitable acknowledgments
for H. R. H.’s generosity and next morning the Blue Boy arrived, fol-
lowed in due time by a bill for £300, which he had the satisfaction of
paying. I heard Mr. Nesbitt many years ago tell the story at my
father’s table.”