Priest, Spanish City 1921

Dean Cornwell painted this image of a priest, probably sometime in the first half of the twentieth century, using oil on canvas. The priest sits centrally, robed in black, with a book in his lap and a red marker hanging down. He has an air of both authority and humility. I wonder what Cornwell was thinking when he painted this? Did he know the priest? What was it like to sit in the same room? I imagine Cornwell carefully mixing his paints to get just the right tone for the priest's skin, adding layer upon layer, building up form and texture. The paint is applied with confident brushstrokes, thick in some areas, thin in others, creating a surface that feels both smooth and rough. I’m struck by the way he positions the priest in relation to other religious objects, like the crucifix on the wall behind him. It’s as if Cornwell is in a conversation with painters of the past, figuring out how to depict this familiar subject in a new and meaningful way. And that is painting, isn’t it? Each artist is a thread in a long conversation.