Boy of the Crossfield Family (Possibly Richard Crossfield) 1763 - 1768

Curator: This is "Boy of the Crossfield Family," painted in oil on canvas sometime between 1763 and 1768, possibly by John Durand. What do you see at first glance? Editor: An aspiring intellectual trying a bit too hard. It's all in the pose, isn’t it? Trying to look learned. Curator: Let's think about the materials and what their presence might say about production in this era. Look at the canvas weave; what does its texture and weight suggest? Editor: Oh, heavy linen, probably from Europe. And all those layers of paint, so thinly applied! Gives it a sort of…patina of respectability. But the brushwork is so stiff. The boy himself seems almost carved from wood. Curator: That's partly Durand's style, adhering to academic conventions, though he's not fully mastered them, one might say. More fundamentally, his patronage came from families involved in trade; painting represented the exchange of currency and labor. Editor: Well, maybe this stiff posture reflects the sitter being uncomfortable during the artistic labor of being portrayed! You know, stuck on a stool for hours while the artist daubs away. I picture him thinking of games and orchards. Curator: Precisely, artistic labor! How much did this family value their own standing by commissioning art and spending this level of production costs on having him in such finery? Consider too, the source of his knowledge, and of the book that represents the power of education. Editor: Look at those rudimentary spines of those other volumes! Perhaps the sitter's potential future as something literate would be valuable? Yet he stares slightly off-camera...maybe lost in a world of dreams, disconnected somehow from that serious tome he's holding? A little trapped by it all, I suspect. Curator: It makes us think about what this family wanted to project versus perhaps how that clashes or merges with the true personality of the child? Thanks to art history, our conversation reflects what has changed or remained since the era in which the piece was painted. Editor: Agreed, seeing both the tangible effort and the fleeting spirit caught within. Something I'll ponder, definitely!