Portrait of a Lady in Black

ca. 1895

William Merritt Chase American, 1849-1916

On View

American, Level 2, West Wing

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About the Artwork

Chase was deeply influenced by the Spanish painter Velázquez. He named a daughter Helen Velázquez and painted her as an lnfanta in homage to Velázquez’s portraits for the Spanish court. Here the Spanish influence is obvious in the way Chase handles the values of reflected light and the strong emphasis on the immediate foreground. The brushwork in the sleeves, collar, and bodice of the dress are clean, crisp, and assertive, serving as a foil to the luminous tones of the woman’s face and arms. Chase seems to capture, through her facial expression and standing pose, the determined attitudes of a commanding figure.

Title Portrait of a Lady in Black

Artwork Date ca. 1895

Artist William Merritt Chase

Life Dates 1849-1916

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. American

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. ----------

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Unframed: 72 × 35 inches (182.9 × 88.9 cm) Framed: 83 1/8 × 47 × 3 7/8 inches (211.1 × 119.4 × 9.8 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department American Art before 1950

Credit Gift of Henry Munroe Campbell

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 43.486

Markings

Signed Signed, lower left: Wm. M. Chase

Provenance

until 1917, the artist.
1917, American Art Association;
1917, Alfred Rose;
Henry Monroe Campbell, Sr.;
Henry Monroe Campbell, Jr;
1943-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

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Exhibition 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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Published References

American Art Association Catalogue of Chase Sale (Fourth Evening). Sales cat., American Art Association. 1917, no. 382.

Richardson, E.P. “A Portrait of a Lady by William Merritt Chase.” Bulletin of the DIA 23, 5 (February 1944): p. 43 (ill.).

Chase Centennial Exhibition. Exh. cat., John Herron Art Museum. Indianapolis, 1949, n.p.

A Leading Spirit in American Art: William Merritt Chase, 1849-1916. Exh. cat., Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington. Seattle, 1983, p. 115 (ill.).

Henshaw, Julia P., ed. The Detroit Institute of Arts: A Visitor’s Guide. Detroit, 1995, p. 80 (ill.).

Wilfrid Gabriel de Glehn (1870-1951): John Singer Sargent’s Painting Companion. Exh. cat., The Spanierman Gallery. New York, 1997, p. 48.

American Beauty: Paintings and Sculpture from the Detroit Institute of Arts, 1770-1920. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 2002, pp. 94-95, no. 68.

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