First I was wondering if this really constituted brown in the 18th century to someone who’d never travelled outside their own burrow. Then I realized the title probably referred to the clothes.
The picture has a curious history related to Thomas Gainsborough. They were friends and rivals and both extraordinary portray painters. Reynolds purported the argument that blue was one of the most boring and least pretty of colors and that red and yellow and other warmer colors were preferable for painting. The underlying theme was the idea that certain colors, particularly pale, blueish and cold colors, weren’t pleasing as the main palette.
Reynolds had made this picture of Master Thomas Lister, who would later would become the 1st Baron Ribblesdale of Gisburn Park.
Allegedly, as a response to Reynolds, Gainsborough would make the “Boy in blue”. Which some historians considered both a mockery of Reynold’s color theory. Significantly, no one is sure who the boy in blue is, despite the fact that he is portrayed with the classical costume elements of the sons of rich patrons.
