Maria Cosway with Her Daughter Louisa c. 1794

Curator: This drawing, executed in pencil around 1794, is entitled "Maria Cosway with Her Daughter Louisa" by Richard Cosway. Editor: It has such a delicate feel. Almost dreamlike, aided by the soft pencil strokes. There is this lingering quality of remembrance as if recalling a distant memory, softened around the edges. Curator: Yes, that's fitting. Cosway moved in very high social circles and actively cultivated a particular image for himself and his sitters, placing great emphasis on aesthetics and feeling. He exhibited extensively and was extremely aware of his public persona and appeal, in part creating the vogue for the Aesthetic movement. Here, the neo-classical line coexists seamlessly with elements of Romanticism. Editor: Look at how the nearly transparent veils are dancing. Also, I’m drawn to that very faint rendering of a child in the lower-left corner; it almost reads as an apparition, this ghostly echo of a child not fully realized, maybe referencing an earlier time. Or perhaps foreshadowing a future still yet to arrive. The linear design reminds us how time is also linear but sometimes we encounter an apparition from our past. Curator: The very subtle shades may point towards the print culture that emerged and expanded exponentially during this period. It became vital to create designs easily translated to engravings to be circulated and collected among the wealthy elite. But in my opinion, more compelling is the way in which portraiture, as a genre, at this time in the late 18th century and particularly within elite and royal circles, performed this cultural and societal function, presenting ideals of femininity and motherhood. Editor: She’s leaning slightly on that balustrade, almost pensively, doesn't she strike you as slightly melancholic, she looks like shes ready to faint. I notice the paleness of her dress almost contrasts and reinforces the vividness of the rosary necklace. Curator: Fascinating point! Considering this, there is no surprise as to the artist’s place within the Royal Academy and also as miniaturist to the Prince of Wales, crafting and circulating potent symbols. Editor: Thinking about this image, it acts like a talisman, drawing us into reflection upon ourselves as viewers and where we stand concerning memory. Curator: Indeed, an insight that throws into new relief how this work helped propagate the very idea of sensibility as a defining marker of taste and class in the late eighteenth century.