Benjamin West, Penn’s Treaty with the Indians,

1771-1772. Oil on canvas, 191.8 x 273.7 cm.

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia.

 

 

But, what happened? Simply this, that Gainsborough, one day, thoroughly nettled and provoked by Reynolds’ exclusive theories, rose from his peaceful retirement, tearing himself away from his favourite pastime (not the composition of lectures and treatises on Art, but the music of which he was so passionately fond), and then the artist, the tranquil admirer of nature, discarding vain words, thoroughly disproved, by the simple force of his brush, the rules so carefully enacted. In one of his lectures to the Academy, Reynolds laid down the principle that blue cannot be used in a picture as the dominant colour, and also that the most vivid tints ought to be placed in the centre of the painting.

Gainsborough’s reply was his celebrated painting The Blue Boy, by name Master Buttall. Master Buttall is a nice-looking, well-dressed boy of about fifteen years old, simply placed in a standing position. His hair and eyes are black, and he has rosy cheeks and lips. Over his left hand, which is supported on his hip, hangs the flap of a light mantle, whilst his right hand, hanging by his side, holds a beaver hat ornamented with a long feather. His handsome costume of light satin consists of a short jacket with slashed sleeves, small-clothes tied at the knees with knots of ribbon, silk stockings, and rosettes on his shoes. With the exception of a muslin collarette and the slashes on his sleeves, the whole picture is of the same blue, of the shade known as royal blue.

It is easy thus to enumerate the different articles of dress, but how shall we give an idea of the harmony of the picture! How can we convey to the reader, with any accuracy, its delicacies, the reflections, the highlights, the bright bits of colour, and the soft warm deep shades which, blending together, reduce and modify the intensity of the full colour? How can we show the variety of expedients by which the master has managed his shadows, causing the young figure to stand out from a background of autumnal foliage of russet and green tints, and from a powerful sky full of breeze and movement? One must see and admire the picture, and carry away from it the impression made by a masterpiece.