About the Artwork
“Little” Dorothy, fully enveloped by the frilly volume of her dress and cape, stands in front of a massive gilt-framed painting in the studio of her father, William Merritt Chase. Early viewers praised the loving affection the painter brought to this portrait. In 1897, in Arts for America, a critic pronounced, “No one can stand before such a painting without forgetting the trials of the day and entering at once in the unrestrained happiness of childhood.”
Dorothy Bremond Chase (1891 – 1953) was about three years old when her father painted this cheerful and loving portrait. The artist and his wife, Alice Gerson Chase (1866 – 1927), had eight children who filled their homes in New York City and Long Island. Dorothy was their fourth. Chase was a doting father, and his children were frequent subjects.
My Little Daughter Dorothy
ca. 1894
William Merritt Chase
1849-1916
American
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Oil on canvas
Unframed: 48 × 33 inches (121.9 × 83.8 cm) Framed: 52 3/4 × 37 3/4 × 2 inches (134 × 95.9 × 5.1 cm)
Paintings
American Art before 1950
Gift of Mrs. Arthur McGraw
31.27
Copyright Not Evaluated
Markings
Signed, lower right: My Little Daughter Dorothy | Wm M. Chase
Inscribed, lower right: My Little Daughter Dorothy | Wm M. Chase
Provenance
until 1917, the artist's family.1917, American Art Association sale of Artist's Works;
1917-1923, William Macbeth (New York, New York, USA);
1923, dealer Newman Montross (New York, New York, USA).
ca. 1923-1931, Mrs. Arthur McGraw;
1931-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
For more information on provenance, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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"The Exhibition of the Society of American Artists." Art Amateur 30, 5 (April 1894): pp. 127-128.
American Art Association Catalogue of Chase Sale (Fourth Evening). Sales cat., American Art Association. 1917, no. 374. [noted as having been painted in Chase's Tenth Street Studio]
American Art Annual 14 (1917): p. 346.
Burroughs, Clyde H. “Growth of the Collections.” Bulletin of the DIA 13, 5 (February 1932): pp. 55-56 (ill.).
Chase Centennial Exhibition. Exh. cat., John Herron Art Museum. Indianapolis, 1949, no. 33 (ill.).
The Artist and His Family. Exh. cat., Dayton Art Institute. Dayton, 1950, no. 9
Chase and Hawthorne. Exh. cat., Toledo Museum of Art. Toledo, 1957.
Retrospective Exhibition of William Merritt Chase. Exh. cat., Parrish Art Museum. Southampton, NY, 1957, no. 45.
Triumph of Realism. Exh. cat., Brooklyn Museum. Brooklyn, 1967, no. 62. [dated 1891]
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Credit Line for Reproduction
William Merritt Chase, My Little Daughter Dorothy, ca. 1894, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Mrs. Arthur McGraw, 31.27.
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