‘Claire’ is an oil on canvas portrait painted by Charles Henry Kerr (1858 – 1907) in the Bradford Museums & Galleries collection.
Charles Kerr was a British genre, landscape and portrait painter, best known for his book illustrations for the adventure novels of H. Rider Haggard. ‘Claire’ was gifted to the collection by Kerr’s widow in 1931 and currently on display at Cliffe Castle, Keighley.
It is a portrait that commands attention. A visitor to the gallery, Janet Agar, had written her reasons beside the painting for liking it:
I love the way that the girl has youth, but there appears to be something deeper going on in her mind. She’s looking off to the side as if in deep thought, as if she’s having to think deeper than the average child has to. You feel left asking yourself who is this child and what is she thinking?
The artist certainly captures the youth of the sitter, but the clothes, hairstyle, and body-shape suggests that ‘Claire’ is more a young woman, in her teens or even early twenties, than a child. Her serious expression is emphasised by the darkness of her clothing, and there is almost a sense of mourning from the colour and plainness of her dress. The light effects are particularly well done: the source is from the upper centre-left of the sitter, as indicated by the position of the shadow of her head on the tapestry behind.
The contrasts in the painting are remarkable too, between the black of the dress and highlights of face and right hand, just protruding into the bottom left of the frame. Claire is posed against what appears to be a tapestry and this is painted in a range of muted tones, drawing relief from the black, but not pulling attention from the face of the sitter.
Janet Agar has got it right when she wonders: “You feel left asking yourself who is this child and what is she thinking? The strength of the painting is certainly in its quality to make you ask just that question.