Thomas Gainsborough
The Market Cart
From $100
This painting is shimmering satin blue against warm browns, and a cheap copy turns it flat and muddy. Our Gainsborough The Blue Boy print is made from the museum’s own photograph, unretouched, so the blue stays luminous.
Canvas, framed or paper
Stretched canvas. Printed on cotton canvas and stretched taut over a frame. The edges are mirror-wrapped, so the picture continues around the sides and none of it is lost to the fold.
Framed canvas. The same canvas, set in a black, white, natural wood or dark wood frame 0.83 in deep. The frame gives the work a finished edge and a little more presence on the wall.
Framed print. Printed on fine art matte paper and framed in solid pine, behind shatterproof plexiglass, in black, white, natural wood or dark wood. It arrives ready to hang. Framed sizes are measured on the outside of the frame.
Fine art print. Printed on 310gsm fine art matte paper, for framing your own way. It travels rolled and protected. From 18x24 inch.
Sizes
12x18 inch, 16x24 inch, 20x30 inch, 24x36 inch. Framed sizes are measured on the outside of the frame, so the visible painting is a little smaller.
On your wall
Its tall shape suits a study, a hallway or a living room wall. The blues and browns look rich with cream, slate and walnut, and a gold or black frame suits it.
About the painting
The Blue Boy by Thomas Gainsborough
Sick of portraits
Thomas Gainsborough, a weaver’s son from Suffolk, became the great rival of Reynolds and painted Georgian society with fast, feathery brushstrokes, though he always said he loved landscapes more.
A homage to Van Dyck
About 1770 Gainsborough painted a youth in 17th-century blue satin, like Van Dyck’s portraits of young noblemen. He may be the painter’s nephew, Gainsborough Dupont.
Britain’s farewell
In 1921 it was sold to the American Henry Huntington. Before it left, 90,000 people came to see it one last time at the National Gallery.
Read the story
A young man stands in a dark, stormy landscape. He wears a suit of shimmering blue satin, with a lace collar, and holds a wide-brimmed hat in one hand. He looks straight at us, calm and a little proud.
Thomas Gainsborough painted him around 1770. The costume is not from Gainsborough's own time. It is from more than a hundred years earlier, a tribute to the great portrait painter Anthony van Dyck, whom Gainsborough loved.
For a long time, people said the boy was Jonathan Buttall, the son of a merchant, who owned the painting. That has never been proved. Today he is thought more likely to be Gainsborough's own nephew.
There is a famous story that Gainsborough painted it in blue to defy his rival, Sir Joshua Reynolds, who had lectured that blue should never dominate a picture. It is a wonderful story, and it is not true: the painting was finished years before the lecture. But the legend helped make it famous.
In 1921 it was sold to the American collector Henry Huntington. Before it left for California, ninety thousand people came to the National Gallery in London to say goodbye.
The Blue Boy. Thomas Gainsborough, about 1770.
How each piece is brought to life
Faithful to the original, and made to be felt on your wall.
Graded against the original
We compare every work with the original as we grade it, keeping the artist’s colours true while bringing back their depth and glow. Every mark stays the artist’s own.
Printed for you
Printed to order on cotton canvas or fine art paper, then framed if you chose a frame, in 1 to 3 business days.
On your wall
It arrives 5 to 12 business days later, tracked and free anywhere in the US. Framed pieces come ready to hang.
Questions
Is this the original painting?
No. The original hangs in a museum. What you receive is a fine art reproduction, remastered from the original and printed for you, with every mark where the artist left it.
Will the colour look flat?
This is where most reproductions disappoint, and it is where we spend the most time. Each work is graded side by side with the original: faithful to the artist’s colours, with the depth and warmth brought back, so it moves you on the wall the way it was meant to. Canvas reads a touch softer than a backlit screen, and every screen shows colour a little differently.
Will the edges be cropped?
Each size is a standard frame size, so we fit the painting by trimming a little from its edges. We never stretch or squash it, and we check every size by eye so no face, figure or signature is cut. On canvas the edges are mirror-wrapped, which keeps the whole picture on the front.
Which size is right for my wall?
Aim for about two-thirds the width of the furniture beneath it. Over a sofa or a sideboard, one of the two largest sizes will hold the wall. The size guide lists every size in inches and centimetres, with the kind of wall each one suits.
How long does it take?
Your piece is printed in 1–3 business days, then spends 5–12 business days in transit, tracked all the way. Delivery is free anywhere in the US. We are unable to deliver to PO boxes.
What if it arrives damaged?
Send us a photograph and we will remake it and send it again. There is nothing to return.
Can I return it?
Yes, within 30 days of delivery. Our returns policy has the details.
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Printed to order
Graded against the original, then printed for you on cotton canvas or fine art paper in 1–3 business days.
The whole painting
Every mark is the artist’s own, and canvas edges are mirror-wrapped so the whole picture stays on the front.
Free US shipping
On every order, tracked, 5–12 business days in transit.
30-day returns
Returns and exchanges within 30 days of delivery.
