Two Little Girls 1903

Frank Benson captured these two little girls with oil on canvas. Look at the brushwork, see how it gives form to their dresses? The white isn’t just white, it’s a whole spectrum of pale yellows, blues, and pinks. You can feel Benson’s hand in the way he builds up the texture, layer upon layer. I wonder if he ever struggled to capture their likenesses. Did he have to scrape off paint and start again sometimes? I often do. Take the girl on the left’s gaze, it almost feels like she's looking right through you. There's a quiet confidence in the way Benson has posed her. Benson’s paintings remind me of other artists such as Sargent. You can see a thread running through their work, a shared language of light and brushstroke. Painting is like that, artists borrowing and riffing off each other through time. What does it mean to you?