Genre
GEORGE WHITING FLAGG (1816–1897)
The Durand Children, 1833
Oil on wood panel, 31 x 24 7/8 in.
Inscribed (on the back, in a later hand): MASON A. DURAND / BORN 1786 [sic] DIED MAY 1832 / MARRIED 21 AUGUST 1824– / CHARLOTTE E. BRADLEY / BORN APRIL 1800 DIED DEC. 1832
The Durand Children, painted in 1833, is one of Flagg’s earliest paintings, done while he was still under the tutelage of Washington Allston. The painting portrays the surviving children of Mason A. Durand and his wife, Charlotte Bradley Durand, both of whom died in 1832. Mason A. Durand was born on April 16, 1795, in Milford, Connecticut. He was the son of William Durand (1760–1841) and Mary E. Baldwin (1767–1850). In 1824, he married Charlotte E. Bradley (b. 1800) of New Haven, the daughter of Abraham Bradley (1772–1842) and Mary Ball (1767–1845). Mason and Charlotte Durand had three children: David Hull Durand (1826–1842), Elizabeth Bradley Durand (1828–1898), and George Mason Hopkins Durand (1831–1833). It is they who appear in Flagg’s portrait.
In The Durand Children, Washington Allston’s influence is clear. Flagg’s palette is soft and rich, the shallow space of the composition warmed by the sunlight pouring in from the left. Each of the Durand children is painted sensitively and imbued with individuality, their forms given an almost halo-like luminescence as they grieve before the gravestone of their parents.
