12-A John Singer Sargent, Portrait of a Boy, 1890

12-A John Singer Sargent, Portrait of a Boy, 1890
- If you were to be sitting the way this boy is sitting, what would your mood probably be?
- What do the two poses say about how each sitter probably felt about posing for this picture?
- Homer is dressed in an outfit based on a story that was extremely popular with mothers, but this costume was also beginning to be associated with being a “mama’s boy”. Is Homer portrayed as a “mama’s boy”? (He isn’t acting obediently, he is sitting restlessly and awkwardly in his chair with a bored expression on his face, fingers spread and his back at an angle to his mother.)
- How has Sargent used the room and accessories in this painting to intensify Homer’s feelings of impatience? (the chair is too big, the swirling pattern of the carpet)
- Which figure is the most important in this portrait? How do we know?
- Sargent made his living off painting portraits of wealthy Americans and Europeans. How do you think this work, done for a friend, may have differed if it had been commissioned by a wealthy family who wanted to hang it in a prominent place in their home? (Think: George Washington. Homer’s mother would have been in a fancier dress and may have been painted facing the painter/viewer, boy less restless, more ornate surroundings.)


The Blue Boy (c. 1770) is an oil painting by Thomas Gainsborough. Perhaps Gainsborough's most famous work, it is thought to be a portrait of Jonathan Buttall, the son of a wealthy hardware merchant, although this was never proved. It is a historical costume study as well as a portrait: the youth in his 17th-century apparel is regarded as Gainsborough's homage to Anthony Van Dyck (1599 – 1641. A Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England. He is most famous for his portraits of King Charles I of England and Scotland and his family and court, painted with a relaxed elegance that was to be the dominant influence on English portrait-painting for the next 150 years. He also painted biblical and mythological subjects, displayed outstanding facility as a draftsman, and was an important innovator in watercolor and etching.).
Gainsborough had already painted something on the canvas before beginning The Blue Boy, which he painted over. The painting itself is on a fairly large canvas for a portrait, measuring 48 inches wide by 70 inches tall. The portrait now resides in the Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

The children of King Charles I of England in 1637 by Van Dyck.