Class, gender, and sexuality in Thomas Gainsborough's Blue boy / Valerie Hedquist.

The reception of Thomas Gainsborough's Blue Boy from its origins to its appearances in contemporary visual culture reveals how its popularity was achieved and maintained by diverse audiences and in varied venues. Performative manifestations resulted in contradictory characterizations of the painted youth as an aristocrat or a "regular fellow," as masculine or feminine, or as heterosexual or gay. In private and public spaces where viewers saw the actual painting and where living and rendered replicas circulated, Gainsborough's painting was often the centerpiece where dominant and subordinate classes met, gender identities were enacted, and sexuality was implicitly or overtly expressed.

Cover; Half-Title; Series; Title; Copyright; Contents; List of figures; List of plates; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1 Private Beginnings, Public Performances; A Spa Setting for The Blue Boy; Gainsborough in Bath; The Blue Boy and Van Dyck; The Shared Stuart Past; Public Display at the Royal Academy; The Blue Boy in the Artist's Showroom; Notes; 2 The Blue Boy from Gainsborough's Showroom to Grosvenor's Picture Gallery; The Blue Boy's Fame and Rivalry; An American Blue Boy; The Blue Boy's Fame and Jonathan Buttall; The Blue Boy's Fame and the Grosvenor Family in Mayfair; Notes

3 Public RecognitionThe Blue Boy in Early Publications; The Blue Boy in Manchester; The Blue Boy Exhibited; The Great London Exposition, 1862; Royal Academy, London, 1870; South Kensington Museum, London, 1870; Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1885; Royal Academy, London, 1896; The Blue Boy Examined and Rivalry Reconsidered; Notes; 4 Reproducing The Blue Boy; An Alternative Blue Boy; The Blue Boy in Prints and Popular Objects; Living Reproductions Perform The Blue Boy; Notes; Plates; 5 Farewell to England; The Final Years in Mayfair; The Sale of The Blue Boy; Goodbye to Britain; Notes

6 Welcome to AmericaThe Blue Boy on the West Coast; The Blue Boy on Screen and Stage; Notes; 7 Changing Roles for The Blue Boy; The Blue Boy Captivates America; From Manliness to Swish; The Blue Boy in the Comics; Re-appropriating The Blue Boy; Gay Blue Boy; Notes; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index

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