ABSTRACT
Manifestations of Thomas Gainsborough’s Blue Boy were available in diverse formats and at prices marketed to different audiences. In each instance, the fame of The Blue Boy stimulated the production and dissemination of its reproduction, and in turn the objects and living performances of the painting amplified its recognition. The increasingly popularized Romantic idea of the artist as a lone genius struggling against convention was consistent with discussions of Gainsborough and The Blue Boy, and contributed to the elevated status of the original. The principal boy role of Little Boy Blue in the British and American productions defied labeling, with cross-dressing female actors performing as both girly boys and as boyish girls. The “indisposition” of two bridesmaids led to the adoption of this dress which was “a very pretty precedent, which all young ladies requiring a hymeneal retinue will do wise and picturesquely to follow.”
