Untitled (graphite and watercolor drawing on coarse off-white paper, labeled C.E. Brown) 1855 - 1885

Curator: Looking at this small watercolor and graphite drawing, attributed to Frederica Louisa Bayly, the first thing I feel is a deep sense of melancholy. Editor: Yes, an immediate vulnerability. He's slumped, head in his hands – almost theatrical in its despair. It makes you wonder about the conventions of expressing grief at the time. Was this pose a familiar trope? Curator: It's interesting, isn't it? We don't know when it was created, but the scale suggests a very personal object, maybe a page from a sketchbook. Note the off-white, coarse paper, which lends a certain rawness. Editor: And the inscription, C.E. Brown – presumably the sitter? Was he a public figure? This small work feels so private and poignant, it's hard to imagine it displayed for a wide audience back then. Curator: Perhaps it was never intended for display. Maybe it was simply a way for Bayly to explore an emotion, or to capture a fleeting moment of human frailty. I think that's beautiful, that art can be so intimate. Editor: It does make you consider the various roles images play, public and private. Art as both a mirror to society and a window into the soul.