Francis Nicholls 'The Pink Boy' (b.1774)

The painting was exhibited by Gainsborough in the Royal Academy exhibition of 1782, when he was at the height of his fame. It was discussed in the press where the sitter was identified as the grandson of a prominent anatomist, Dr. Nicholls. It is probably his grandson, known as Frank, born in 1774, about whom little is known. Since the early 1760s, Gainsborough had used London exhibitions regularly to show his works to a wide audience. They helped him establish his reputation as well as gain sales.

Gainsborough's earlier portrait of Jonathan Buttal, now in The Huntington, San Marino, California, was much admired by fellow artists. Jonathan holds a cloak in his right hand, as Frank Nicholls appears to have originally done in this painting. Gainsborough may have decided to emphasise the slim verticality of the figure by removing the cloak. The painting acquired its current title 'The Pink Boy' in the 19th century, at the same time as 'The Blue Boy' acquired great popularity in the Manchester 'Art Treasures' exhibition of 1857.

As with many of his portraits, Gainsborough set the subject in a romantic landscape, the outlines of which help to frame and embed the sitter in his surroundings. The curve of the clouds and the tree form a wide halo around the boy's head. The diagonal of the horizon is echoed in the slant of his left arm. Frank props his arm on a tree, as if perfectly at home in the landscape.

Vandyke dress was used by Gainsborough in several portraits of boys and young men. He is reputed to have had a costume in his studio for sitters to wear. This style of clothing had been popular since the 1730s - people wore it to masquerades and for portraits. People liked wearing historical dress in portraits because this did not date the portrait as quickly as if the sitter wore the latest fashion. By the 1780s the fashion for wearing this dress had abated, but it was still used in portraits.

From correspondence between Gainsborough and Lord Dartmouth in 1771, we know that Gainsborough disapproved of depicting people in fancy dress as this departed from the likeness that he always strived for in his portraits, and which he believed was the basis for the art of portraiture. However, he was deeply interested in the art of Anthony van Dyck, court painter to Charles I, who had revolutionised British art in the 17th century. Gainsborough studied and copied his paintings. A pink costume was used by van Dyck for several portraits including of the young William II painted in 1641 now in the Rijksmuseum and also for the young Villier brothers made for Charles I and now at Windsor. It seems that Gainsborough had access to the latter painting, as there are copies of the painting attributed to him. Frank's pose is also similar to one found in this portrait.

Ferdinand de Rothschild bought the work after seeing it in an exhibition in London in 1879. It was displayed in the dining room of his London house, 143 Piccadilly, and only came to Waddesdon after 1935. The shimmering fabrics and colours are akin to those used by French Rococo painters, such as Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), also collected by the Rothschild family. Around the same time that Ferdinand purchased several portraits by Gainsborough of men and boys in Vandyke dress, John Everett Millais painted Antony de Rothschild (1887-1961) in a similar costume and style to Gainsborough's 'The Blue Boy'.

Phillippa Plock, 2011

Dimensions (mm) / weight (mg)

1676 x 1168

Signature & date

not signed or dated

Marks

JG
Owner's mark
lower stretcher and canvas, red wax seal probably of John Grundy (1806-1867) dealer in Liverpool who bought it for John Naylor

Provenance

• Owned by Captain Stokes (d.Circa 1857); sold by Mrs Stokes at Christie's sale 28 May 1857, lot 202 (manuscript addition to Christie's own copy of the catalogue); bought by the dealer John Grundy (b.1806, d.1867) of Liverpool for John Naylor at Christie's sale 28th May 1857, lot 202; bought by Agnews from John Naylor in 1879; bought from Agnews by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild (b.1839, d.1898) 5 March 1879 for £5,512 and 10 shillings, stock no. 844, after Ferdinand saw it in exhibition at the Royal Academy; bequeathed by Ferdinand to Baroness Edmond de Rothschild (b.1853, d.1935); by descent to her son James de Rothschild (b.1878, d.1957); bequeathed to Waddesdon (National Trust) in 1957.

Exhibition history

• Royal Academy, London, 1782, no. 372, as 'Portrait of a young gentleman'
• London, Royal Academy, 1879, no. 39, lent by John Naylor

Collection

• Waddesdon (National Trust) Bequest of James de Rothschild, 1957

Bibliography

• St. James's Chronicle; 1782; quoted in Whitley (1915)
• George W. Fulcher; Life of Thomas Gainsborough RA (2nd edition); London; Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans; 1856; p. 230
• William T. Whitley; Thomas Gainsborough; London; Smith, Elder; 1915; p. 192
• Ellis Waterhouse; Gainsborough; London; Edward Hulton Limited; 1958; p. 83, no. 515, pl. 241
• Ellis Waterhouse, The English Pictures at Waddesdon Manor, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 54, August 1959, 49-56; pp. 50, 54, fig. 1
• ♦; Sir Francis Watson, The Art Collections at Waddesdon Manor I: The Paintings, Apollo, 69, June 1959, 172-182; p. 175, fig. 3
• Keith Roberts; Thomas Gainsborough: The Masters, 32; London; Knowledge Publications; 1966; pp. 5, 8, pl. XII
• Ellis Waterhouse, Anthony Blunt; Paintings: The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor; Fribourg; Office du Livre, The National Trust; 1967; pp. 44-45, cat. no. 8
• Geoffrey Agnew; Agnew's 1871 - 1967; England; Bradbury Agnew Press; 1967; p. 33, ill.
• Edward Morris, John Naylor and Other Collectors of Modern Paintings in 19th Century Britain, Annual Report and Bulletin of the Walker Art Gallery Liverpool, 5, 1974-1975, 72-86; pp. 79, 86
• Robyn Asleson, Shelley Bennett; British paintings at the Huntington; New Haven; Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery; 2001; p. 100, n. 33
• Matthew Hirst; Les peintures: l'âge d'or du portrait anglais; Les collections exceptionnelles des Rothschild: Waddesdon Manor (Hors-série de l'Estampille/l'Objet d'Art, No. 14), Dijon, Éditions Faton, 2004; 22-29; pp. 23-24, ill.
• Lydia Greeves; History and Landscape; London; The National Trust; 2004; p. 139
• Hugh Belsey; Thomas Gainsborough: The Portraits, Fancy Pictures and Copies After Old Masters (Volume 1 and 2); 1-2; The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, Yale University Press; 2019; cat. 679, vol. II, p. 635

Related files

• • http://www.museumnetworkuk.org/portraits/artworks/waddesdon/img5.html [accessed 20 October 2009]
  • http://www.museumnetworkuk.org/portraits/artworks/waddesdon/img5.html [accessed 20 October 2009]

Subject person

• Frank Nicholls, Sitter
• Anthony van Dyck, Alluded to in image

Person as Subject

• Nicholls, Frank (b.1774)
• Dyck, Anthony van (b.1599, d.1641)

Subjects

• Figures/Child
• Figures/Male
• Nature, Landscape & The Elements/Countryside
• Nature, Landscape & The Elements/Clouds
• Nature, Landscape & The Elements/Trees & Plants
• Work & Occupations/Social Rank/Middling Classes
• Portraits/Child
• Portraits/Male
• Decorative Motifs & Patterns/Flower Motifs
• Objects/Clothing & Personal Effects/Fancy Dress

Genres

• Portraiture/Genres