Gainsborough's 'The Blue Boy' displayed in the National Gallery in London for three weeks before sailing across the Atlantic to its new home in California in the winter of 1922. It was a public farewell to a revered work of art. Gainsborough's masterwork comes to the National Gallery 100 years later (to the day) to be shown in Trafalgar Square once more. This is the first time The Huntington has loaned the painting, and it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see this legendary piece in the UK.
To accompany the exhibition, this lavishly illustrated publication delves into the legendary painting's long-lasting impact on British art and culture. The catalogue analyzes this masterwork within the context of the National Gallery's collection, including a select group of paintings that reveal the significant effect of Sir Anthony van Dyck and the old master tradition on Gainsborough's style and identity. 
During the nineteenth century, the painting’s fame grew and full-length portraits by Gainsborough and his contemporaries became much sought after by wealthy American collectors. American buying power from the 1880s onwards was mirrored by the comparative economic decline of the British aristocracy. The sale of The Blue Boy in 1921, to the American railroad magnate and collector Henry E. Huntington, was therefore seen by many as emblematic of this shift in economic and cultural power. Given the proximity to the end of the First World War, the loss of The Blue Boy was unsurprisingly viewed as a national tragedy. However, its afterlife, as a kind of permanent ambassador for British art, has undoubtedly fed into ideas of Britain and Britishness – its history, society, culture and character – that still resonate today.