'The Blue Boy' (Jonathan Buttall)

by Richard Josey, after Thomas Gainsborough
mezzotint, published 1876 (1770)
11 in. x 7 in. (280 mm x 177 mm) plate size; 19 7/8 in. x 13 3/4 in. (506 mm x 348 mm) paper size
Purchased with help from the Friends of the National Libraries and the Pilgrim Trust, 1966
Reference Collection
NPG D32508

Sitterback to top

Jonathan Buttall (1752-1805), Ironmonger and painted by Gainsborough in portrait known as 'The Blue Boy'. Sitter in 3 portraits.

Artistsback to top

Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788), Portrait and landscape painter. Artist or producer associated with 264 portraits, Sitter in 8 portraits.
Richard Josey (1840-1906), Engraver. Artist or producer associated with 46 portraits.

Portrait setback to top

Macdonnell Collection

Subject/Themeback to top

Mezzotint

Events of 1876back to top

Current affairs

Following the introduction of the Royal Titles Act, Queen Victoria is proclaimed Empress of India, with Disraeli deliberately flattering Victoria's imperialist ambitions. In turn, Victoria creates Disraeli Earl of Beaconsfield; he continues to run government from the Lords.

Art and science

The classical-subject painter Lawrence Alma-Tadema, famous for his elegant depictions of the Roman Empire, paints An Audience at Agrippa's.
US inventor Alexander Graham Bell invents and patents the telephone following research into vocal physiology and speech instruction for the deaf, after discovering that sound could be transmitted and reconverted through an electric wire by using a continuous electric current.

International

15,000 Bulgarian Christians are slaughtered by Turkish troops in retaliation for the killing of 300 Turks in Batak at the start of the Bulgarian uprising. The Turkish government practices further repression by compulsorily transferring people of other ethnicities to Bulgaria to make the Bulgarians a minority. Gladstone published a pamphlet The Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East attacking Turkish actions, selling 200,000 copies in a month.

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