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PEOPLE & ARTS Tuesday 25 sepTember 2018
Art's iconic 'Blue Boy' gets major 250th birthday makeover

By JOHN ROGERS "It could be an image of
Associated Press Gainsborough Dupont,
SAN MARINO, Calif. (AP) — who was the artist's neph-
"Blue Boy" is getting a long- ew," McCurdy said. "He
awaited makeover, and lived with the family so he
the public can watch as would have been a readily
one of the world's most rec- available model. And we
ognizable paintings gets a know that the blue suit was
little nip here, a nice tuck a studio prop that the artist
there and some splashes owned."
of fresh paint (blue pre- Dupont, looking a few
sumably) just in time for the years older than "Blue Boy,"
eternally youthful adoles- but not that much differ-
cent to mark his 250th birth- ent, appears in the same
day. suit in other Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough's paintings.
stunning oil on canvas fea- "Blue Boy," it turns out, also
turing a British youth dressed had a dog until Gainsbor-
nearly all in blue has been ough painted it out of the
one of the most sought-out picture. The kid's furry friend
attractions at Southern Cal- was discovered in a 1994
ifornia's Huntington Library, X-ray that also is on display
Art Collections and Botani- at O'Connell's work sta-
cal Gardens since its arrival tion, along with X-rays that
in 1921. reveal nearly a foot-long
But it hasn't had a substan- tear in the canvas that was
tial restoration in at least repaired so well it can't be
97 years, and over time seen with the naked eye.
it's become a bit torn and What can be seen was
tattered, some of its colors when the tear was fixed,
have faded and, worse still, it was painted over
some of its paint is begin- with a color that didn't
ning to flake. quite match the original.
All that begins to stop Satur- O'Connell plans to fix that.
day when The Huntington's She'll leave out the dog,
senior paintings conserva- however. You can still see
tor, Christina O'Connell, its front paws, which Gains-
goes to work armed with borough cleverly turned
an array of 21st century into rocks when he blend-
tools to restore an 18th cen- ed the rest of the canine
tury masterpiece. into the landscape.
She'll have a microscope "Composition choice, real-
that, at 6 feet (1.8 meters), In this Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018, photo Christina O'Connell shows a x-ray display of the "The Blue ly," McCurdy speculates on
Boy" painting, made around 1770 by English painter Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788), on dis-
is taller than she is and can play at the "Project Blue Boy" exhibit in the Thornton Portrait Gallery at The Huntington in San Ma- the artist's reasons for sack-
zoom in on the painting's rino, Calif. ing the pooch.
smallest details and mag- Associated Press "If the white fluffy dog was
nify them 25 times. She'll there in the painting you'd
have numerous digital X- casional breaks, she'll stop but when stunned viewers sues are concerned," she spend a lot of attention on
radiography and infrared to explain it to them. saw the full-length portrait said, adding she's repaired it rather than looking at the
reflectography images of "One of the reasons why of an adolescent dressed much worse, including a figure of the boy."
the work that she's been the painting hasn't under- all in bright blue silk, from painting that was once The boy is indeed what
compiling and studying gone such an extensive his tunic to the breeches handed to her in pieces. many who visit The Hunting-
over the past year. And, of conservation treatment extending just below his Still, this is "Blue Boy" so she'll ton's picturesque grounds
course, there will be paint before was because peo- knees, they quickly gave take her time. When The come to see, along with
created to match what ple always wanted to keep him a nickname. Huntington's founder, rail- the institution's gardens
Gainsborough was using it on view. So this is a way to Although Gainsborough, road tycoon Henry Hun- filled with 15,000 varieties
circa 1770. address the conservation one of the greatest British tington, bought it in 1921, of plants, its library contain-
With all that at her disposal needs of the painting while painters of the 18th centu- he paid a then-record sum ing nearly a half-million rare
she expects to have "Proj- keeping it on view — so the ry, is renowned as a master of $728,000. Some Britons books and its hundreds of
ect Blue Boy" completed visitors won't miss him," she of the brush, O'Connell says were reported to have other priceless paintings
about this time next year said with a smile as she took she won't be nervous while cried when they learned and sculptures.
and the kid back on The a break from her work in a crowd watches her ev- their boy was leaving his Which is why, says Mc-
Huntington's Thornton Gal- the gallery earlier this week. ery move when she takes native country. Curdy, it's important that
lery wall, alongside other Indeed, "Blue Boy" — who- up her own brush to add Art historians have never people see the care, which
stunning portraits from the ever he was — has be- touches — inpainting, it's figured out exactly who isn't cheap or easy, that
era, sometime in early 2020. come a worldwide icon called — to replace what "Blue Boy" was, although must be taken to maintain
As O'Connell toils in the since Gainsborough put the painting has lost to the they have a pretty good such objects.
same area where "Blue him on display to acclaim ravages of time. suspect, said Melinda Mc- "We're not just a building
Boy" has hung for nearly a at Britain's Royal Academy "We're dealing with a lot Curdy, The Huntington's as- with pretty things on the
century, visitors will be able exhibition of 1770. The artist of the usual suspects when sociate curator for British art wall," she says. "We take
to walk up and watch what titled the work, "A Portrait it comes to a painting this and O'Connell's partner in care of them. We preserve
she's doing. And, during oc- of a Young Gentleman," age as far as condition is- the restoration project. them for the future."q