People have often marveled at how the then 19-year-old Akseli Gallen-Kallela, without ever having visited France, could create Boy with a Crow in the style of Parisian realism. His artistic influence clearly came from Jules Bastien-Lepage, a favorite among the young Finnish painters of his era. In fact, Gallen-Kallela had previously taken private lessons from Albert Edelfelt, a resident of Paris and a proponent of plein-air realism, during the prior winter.
The painting's subject is a peasant boy familiar to the artist. Gallen-Kallela once revealed that the secret to the painting’s success was convincing the boy that he could tame the crow by sprinkling salt on its tail feathers.
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