I'm not partial to waterfowl or to the color white. But White Drake stands out even in a room packed with great works. It radiates a soft luminous energy. Maybe its the intimacy of meeting a drake so close up, as its doing its peaceful duck thing. Most of the National Gallery's ducks are either fleeing mid-squawk from a pack of hunters, or hanging from a hound's mouth with a broken neck.

Add to the drake's serenity a few dandelions, daisies, and reeds, and its like we chanced upon him, and he's ok with that. Crawhill is also said to have borrowed a few tricks from Japanese prints and Chinese black ink wash drawings, which capture the spirit of a thing rather than describe it as accurately as possible.

So maybe that's it. Here we are looking at the spirit of a peaceful, unhunted, white male duck.