In this occasional series, Fine Art Today delves into the world of portraiture, highlighting historical and contemporary examples of superb quality and skill. This week: Thomas Gainsborough, “The Blue Boy.”

Considered by many to be Thomas Gainsborough’s (1727-1788) most famous painting, “The Blue Boy” is a masterful full-length portrait that has captivated connoisseurs and scholars for centuries. Believed to be a portrait of Jonathan Buttall — the son of a wealthy hardware merchant — the image is not just remarkable for the sitter’s presence, but his lavish costume as well, which flashes from the surface with grandeur, confidence, and status.

After being exhibited continually during the early 19th century, “The Blue Boy” developed a life of its own, becoming a popular reproduction in print and inviting public adoration. In 1919, the picture inspired German film producer Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau to create his debut film, “The Boy in Blue.”

An outcry in Britain resulted from the painting’s being sold to an American in 1921 for a then-world-record $640,000 — nearly $9 million on today’s market. Legend suggests that the exhibition of the painting at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., moved Robert Rauschenberg toward painting.

Today the painting is housed at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. To learn more about this magnificent work, visit the library here.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

Art historians, collectors, and enthusiasts will soon have a new treasure trove to work with via the Wildenstein Plattner Institute. You don’t want to overlook this!

The Wildenstein Plattner Institute (WPI) recently announced that it will make available more than a century’s worth of documentation, featuring materials such as stock books from galleries, artists’ correspondence, and annotated sale catalogues. The materials will be digitized to develop online catalogue raisonnés for Impressionists such as Edouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and Claude Monet.

Elizabeth Gorayeb, the WPI’s executive director, suggests, “The exciting thing about the archive is that there are materials here that were long thought to have been destroyed, and others that have not been available to the public at large, so this is an important development for art historians, dealers, and provenance researchers.” Gorayeb also said the archives at WPI contain records from legendary Paris art dealer Ambroise Vollard, who worked with artists such as Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Paul Cézanne.

Via the WPI’s webpage, the nonprofit organization adds “[The WPI] will create a comprehensive inventory of the archives, with a digital finding aid that will be available on our website. The WPI is also developing a database of digitized archival material and online catalogue raisonnés that will provide the most up-to-date information on the oeuvre of significant artists of the 19th and 20th centuries.”

To learn more, visit WPI.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

Have you seen the drawings by artist Maria Kreyn? If you haven’t, there will be a great opportunity at Paul Booth Gallery in New York City in just a few weeks. Details here!

Paul Booth Gallery will open “May You Live in Interesting Times” on August 19; it’s a solo exhibition of recent drawings by artist Maria Kreyn. On view through September 9, the exhibition showcases Kreyn’s dynamic compositions in graphite and charcoal that explore themes of humanity with intense emotional depth. “The exhibition takes its name from a purported Chinese curse,” the gallery writes, “and while the works examine darkness, they do not dwell in the negative. [Kreyn’s] expressive use of light and shadow describe the passage of time, and repeatedly touch on the commonalities of the great themes of the human condition.

“Kreyn’s imagery often mines traditional western art historical iconography, as well as industrial and wartime photography. Her compositions are montages that seem to celebrate contradiction and the unpredictable nature of the future.

“The cumulative effect is that of a recording of history, a documentary, personal or otherwise, depicted in a non-linear, existentialist manner. In ‘Hands,’ a drawing that depicts a set of Dürer-like hands covered with pigment, the use of charcoal itself becomes of a metaphor for the very act of creation, i.e., the work of being an artist is sullying in and of itself, and getting dirty is vital to the creative process. In this image, charcoal dust seems to be a metaphor for both drawing and for quite viscerally being the very stuff of life.

“In ‘Pilgrims,’ she depicts three reclining figures in foreshortened views that recall Mantegna’s ‘Lamentation of Christ.’ Their lower legs each give off cast shadows that seem to depict perspective on a consistent ground plane where the three figures lie exhausted, resting, recuperating. Our eye level as a viewer is on the same ground plane. The result is that the scene becomes a commonality. Their journey is ours, too, Kreyn seems to say.

“Nautical themes are common in Kreyn’s work, and the piece ‘Elections, What Goes Up’ seems to evoke The Odyssey and its famous captain and charismatic leader Ulysses. But in Kreyn’s more Expressionist image, the narrative is more contemporary (20th century uniforms) and secular. The central figure, to which all hands are reaching up from the lower deck, has no supernatural powers to save the day, no Athena to bail him out of trouble or shore up his character flaws. He is a leader who is joined in suffering with his fellow sailors, in their moment of confusion and despair as they face the storm together.”

To learn more, visit Booth Gallery.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

The Oconomowoc Arts Center in Wisconsin is the lucky venue for a tantalizing display of pastel brilliance opening August 25.

The Wisconsin Pastel Artists will soon present “Until the Equinox” — a group exhibition of members’ recent work at the Oconomowoc Arts Center in Wisconsin. Opening on August 25, this fall exhibition features many of the state’s most accomplished artists, including Rosalie Beck, Roberta Condon, Cynthia Dirtzu, and Colette Odya Smith.

To learn more, visit the Wisconsin Pastel Artists.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

The Westwood Gallery in New Jersey will be mounting “New Realism” this month with great anticipation, as the exhibition showcases the captivating realist works of these four painters.

On August 13, the Westwood Gallery will open “New Realism,” featuring new paintings by Allan Gorman, Cesar Santander, Mark Oberendorff, and Ilo Oxa. The show will remain on view through September 16.

Learn more about Westwood Gallery by visiting its website here.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

Uri Vaknin — a major real estate developer and partner in KRE Capital — believes that Las Vegas, Nevada, is becoming a world-class city. However, its vivacious and brilliant downtown is missing something.

In 2014, Uri Vaknin made a major bet on the Las Vegas condo market, building several luxurious high-rises downtown. Having met amazing success with those endeavors, the mogul believes this burgeoning world-class city needs something new: an art museum downtown.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal recently spoke with Vaknin, who offered his thoughts on why an art museum is just what “Sin City” needs:

“While I have only lived here a few years, I am already a proud Las Vegan and Nevadan. I relocated here in 2014 after my firm, KRE Capital LLC, took a major bet on Las Vegas, investing in the city’s condo market. An endeavor, by the way, which many thought was crazy. But we were, and still are, bullish on Las Vegas.

“Our portfolio has performed very well, easily proving the naysayers wrong. The Ogden is now more than 65 percent sold, One Las Vegas is approaching 45 percent sold; Spanish Palms is sold out; and we just opened Juhl for sales.

“What we understood in 2013 is now becoming reality: Las Vegas is becoming a world-class city. Its economic indicators are improving; tourism is returning to pre-recession numbers and has now surpassed them.

“We were impressed with Tesla’s move to the state and Switch’s development of its significant presence in Las Vegas. We saw good governance on the local, county, and state levels. And we believed in Mayor Goodman’s vision for the city of Las Vegas, particularly downtown, where two of our largest properties are located.

“Already a world-renowned dining, entertainment and shopping capital, our city is now becoming a cultural hub. The openings of The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, The Mob Museum, and the Neon Museum signals a clear move in that direction. Yet, I remain dumbfounded that Las Vegas lacks a world-class art museum.

“Some of my earliest indelible memories are family trips to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. I credit much of my business success to my exposure to the arts. It opened me to creativity. My properties have always outperformed similar developments — partly due to the creativity and arts infused into our communities.

“So, when I learned that there was a group rallying for The Art Museum at Symphony Park, I quickly became engaged and now proudly serve as a board member. I have not only given my own money and time to this effort, but my company is also championing this initiative.

“An art museum is important on so many levels. First and foremost, the Art Museum at Symphony Park will become a center of arts education for the valley’s children. Plus, an art museum is an economic driver. Every day, I speak with people who are moving to Las Vegas and are considering buying a condominium downtown. They want to live in a vibrant area with restaurants, boutiques, galleries and museums. Without the Arts District, The Smith Center and museums, I could not convince these folks to invest in downtown Las Vegas.

“Las Vegas is on the cusp of becoming a world-class city. We have great transportation and infrastructure; affordable housing; access to first-rate recreation like Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Lake Mead, Mount Charleston and nearby national parks; outstanding higher education including a new medical school and a nationally ranked law school; improving public education and remarkable private schools; exceptional governance and a business-friendly environment.

“And, now, we have not one but two professional sports teams — the Vegas Golden Knights and the Raiders — along with a second NASCAR race.

“Yet, the one area where we are lacking is in the arts, particularly the visual arts.

“My company is looking at some major new developments in the downtown Las Vegas market.

I can honestly say that the development of a world-class art museum in Symphony Park would be a key determining factor. It is the final ingredient for Las Vegas to claim its destiny as a world-class city.”

To learn more, visit the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

A billionaire art collector has decided to invest in the Los Angeles’ booming Arts District by building a project aptly called 641 and located at 641 South Imperial Street in L.A.

Adam Lindemann, a billionaire who also has a passion for collecting art, is investing millions in L.A.’s booming Arts District by building a 12-story mixed-use project that includes 140 live-work lofts, 7,000 square feet of street-level retail and art space, and another 7,000 square feet of creative office space.

Architectural firm Johnson Fain recently revealed a striking design for the building, which features a wavy, fragmented façade and slender balconies. According to the firm, the building’s units will range in size from 600 to 1,300 square feet, with high ceilings and open interior space. The breezy design allows for floor-to-ceiling windows, as well as balconies for views around the neighborhood.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

A robust stack of master drawings and an iconic painting recently became part of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Who are the masters added to the growing world-class collection?

On July 20, the J. Paul Getty Museum announced its acquisition of a number of incredible master drawings and an iconic painting by French artist Jean Antoine Watteau. Acquired as a group from a British private collection, the 16 drawings are by many of the greatest artists in western art history, including Michelangelo, Lorenzo di Credi, Andrea del Sarto, Parmigianino, Peter Paul Rubens, Barocci, Goya, Degas, and others.

Getty Director Timothy Potts said, “This acquisition is truly a transformative event in the history of the Getty Museum. It brings into our collection many of the finest drawings of the Renaissance through the 19th century that have come to market over the past 30 years, including a number of masterpieces that are among the most famous works on paper by these artists. It is very unlikely that there will ever be another opportunity to elevate so significantly our representation of these artists, and, more importantly, the status of the Getty collection overall.

“No less exciting for the Department of Paintings is the addition of one of Watteau’s most famous and canonical works, ‘La Surprise.’ It was indeed a very welcome surprise when this lost masterpiece reappeared ten years ago in Britain. And one can see why: the act of seduction portrayed in the painting is matched only by the artist’s delicately flickering brushwork — the combination of titillating subject and charming rendition that made him the most esteemed painter of his day. It will be very much at home at the Getty, where it crowns our other exceptional 18th-century French paintings by Lancret, Chardin, Greuze, Fragonard, and Boucher.”

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.