Though born in Morpeth, Northumberland, Crawhall is generally classified as a Scottish artist, due to his association with the Glasgow Boys. This letter was sent to E.A. Walton in 1880 from Crawhall’s family home at 12 Eldon Square in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. It is profusely illustrated with little pen and ink sketches, and is typical of the correspondence that he regularly sent to his friends. The letter dismisses his father’s unsolicited plans to send him to study at Antwerp. In 1882 Crawhall chose to enroll instead at the Parisian studio of the animal painter, Amié Morot (1850–1913). On his return to Scotland the following year he decided that such a conventional academic training in large-scale animal paintings was not for him, and soon gave up painting in oils completely.