Last month, I had the privilege of going to the Huntington Library to see Kehinde Wiley’s, “Portrait of a Young Gentleman,” next to its inspiration, the original “Portrait of a Young Gentleman,” which we now know as Blue Boy.

Blue Boy was painted in 1770 by Thomas Gainesborough, a landscape artist who wanted more paying commissions as a portrait artist.

At the time, the common theme for portraits was that they should emphasize warm tones, with blues being suited only for backgrounds, like the sky.

Gainesborough’s inspiration – artist Anthony Van Dyck, who lived 130 years earlier – used blue as a dominant color, so why couldn’t Gainesborough?  

He painted Blue Boy and presented it to the Royal Academy in 1770, and it was a hit.  Gainesborough became a much sought after portrait artist, and Blue Boy is recognized as a masterpiece.  

In 1921, Henry and Arabella Huntington – very, very, extremely wealthy Americans – purchased Blue Boy for the exorbitant sum of $728,000.  $728,000 in 1921 is roughly $11 billion in today’s dollars.  It was an unheard of amount to pay for a painting, but, as I said, they were extremely wealthy.

They brought the painting from London to the Huntington estate – now Huntington Library & Gardens – and it’s been here ever since.

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of its acquisition, Kehinde Wiley, an American artist from South Central LA who took some of his very first art classes at the Huntington, was commissioned to paint his version of this masterpiece.

Mr. Wiley is known for taking historical portraits and recreating them with people of color and a contemporary sensibility.  While Wiley loved the art that he saw at the Huntington when he was growing up, he was keenly aware that none of the subjects looked like him.  They were all wealthy, influential white Europeans.

By recreating their poses, he gives people of color the same prestige in the portrait that was previously unavailable to them.

His version of “A Portrait of a Young Gentleman” is a masterpiece in its own right.  For a short time, it was displayed in the same hall as its predecessor.  

It was a little startling to see a 21st century painting in the same room, where the next most recent painting was 1791.

But it was truly awesome to see it in the same room as its inspiration.

If you’d like to see more about this painting, please watch my video.