Boy's Eton Jacket c. 1938

Francis Law Durand made this watercolor of a boy’s Eton Jacket, we don't know exactly when. You can almost feel the soft pile of the velvet. The painting renders a specific texture and weight, but I can only imagine what it was like to paint such a thing. Did Durand have the jacket in the studio? Did he paint it over a long period, trying to capture its essence? Look at how the purple bleeds into pink around the shoulders, while the gold embroidery catches the light. Durand isn't just copying what he sees. He’s responding to the object and the feeling it gives him. It reminds me of how Manet would paint clothes in his portraits, as if they had a life of their own. It’s like painters are in a constant conversation, across time, riffing off one another’s ideas. And that’s what keeps painting alive, that endless exchange.