# Paintings: Blue Boy and Pinkie

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paintings-blue-boy-and-pinkie/477960>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [December 19, 2008, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paintings-blue-boy-and-pinkie/477960 "2008-12-19T19:22:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paintings-blue-boy-and-pinkie/477960/1 "2008-12-19T19:22:10Z")

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I should think that a discussion of pink for girls, blue for boys should have a sentence or two on the famous 18c(?) paintings, often shown together, called Blue Boy and Pinkie.

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**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paintings-blue-boy-and-pinkie/477960/2 "2008-12-19T19:45:57Z")

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Hello **janeslogin**. Is [this](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2831/was-pink-originally-the-color-for-boys-and-blue-for-girls) the column you are referring to?

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**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paintings-blue-boy-and-pinkie/477960/3 "2008-12-19T21:04:23Z")

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Gainsborough’s [_The Blue Boy_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Boy) and Lawrence’s [_Pinkie_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkie_(painting)) now hang together in the [Huntington](http://www.huntington.org/ArtDiv/HuntingGall.html).

Note that they never appear to have been previously associated until brought together there in the Twenties.

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**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paintings-blue-boy-and-pinkie/477960/4 "2008-12-19T21:52:03Z")

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> [@janeslogin](#):
>
> I should think that a discussion of pink for girls, blue for boys should have a sentence or two on the famous 18c(?) paintings, often shown together, called Blue Boy and Pinkie.

FWIW **Cecil** was aware of those paintings, as well as suppositions that one or the other had influence on the pink and blue trends. In a late draft I saw he noted it, but apparently ran out of column space to give it mention.

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**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paintings-blue-boy-and-pinkie/477960/5 "2008-12-19T23:18:50Z")

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> [@bonzer](#):
>
> Note that they never appear to have been previously associated until brought together there in the Twenties.

I’ve wondered about that. They had certainly been “paired” by the late 1940s, because my grandmother did two tapestries of them about that time. I have them now, hanging in my dining room. They’re cherished heirlooms.