About the Artwork
William Merritt Chase developed an inventive technique to capture the iridescent and fluid appearance of fish scales. He glazed pigment with transparent varnish to create a thick and luminous surface that glows in the light. This effect captivated critics and collectors during the artist’s lifetime. When the success of his fish paintings began to eclipse that of his landscapes and portraits, the artist joked, “it may be that I will be remembered as a painter of fish.”
The Yield of the Waters (originally titled A Fishmarket in Venice) was one of Chase’s earliest and most ambitious fish paintings. This composition originally included a boy in the top right reaching into the large basket. But after selling the work to a collector, Chase bought it back in 1881 and repainted part of the canvas to remove that figure before selling it again.
The Yield of the Waters
1878
William Merritt Chase
1849-1916
American
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Oil on canvas
Unframed: 49 × 65 inches (124.5 × 165.1 cm) Framed: 57 1/4 × 74 1/8 × 2 7/8 inches (145.4 × 188.3 × 7.3 cm)
Paintings
American Art before 1950
City of Detroit Purchase
16.5
Public Domain
Markings
Signed, upper left: Wm. M. Chase
Provenance
The artist.by 1880, purchased by Samuel A. Coale, Jr. [1836-1893] (St. Louis, Missouri, USA);
March 2-3, 1881, sold by (American Art Galleries, New York, New York, USA), the Coale Collection.
The artist, probably purchased at the above sale.
March 6, 1891, sold at auction by (Ortgies & Co.,, at the Fifth Avenue Galleries, New York, New York, USA), sale of works by William Merrit Chase;
(M.Knoedler & Co.), purchased at the above sale.
P.A.B. Widener [1834-1915] (Haverford, Pennsylvania, USA), probably acquired from M. Knoedler & Co.
January 27-28, 1916, sold by (American Art Association, New York, New York, USA), sale of works from the collection of P. A. B. Widener.
1916 purchased at the above, sale by M. Knoedler and Co. (New York, New York, USA), acting as agent for the Detroit Museum of Art (predecessor to the Detroit Institute of Arts.
1916-present, purchase by 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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Exh. cat., Society of American Artists. Philadelphia, 1879, no. 182. [as “Fish Market”]
Exh. cat., Inter-State Industrial Exposition of Chicago. Chicago, 1889, no. 116. [as “Venetian Fish”]
Painting by William M. Chase. Exh. cat., Ortgies & Co. New York, March 16, 1891, no. 67. [as “Venetian Fish”]
American Art Annual 13 (1916): p. 338.
Valuable Paintings by Artists of Distinction. Exh. cat., American Art Association Sale. New York, 1916, no. 164.
Roof, Katherine Metcalf. The Life and Art of William Merritt Chase. New York, 1917, pp. 47, 242.
Eleventh Annual Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists. Exh. cat., Fine Arts Academy, The Albright Art Gallery. Buffalo, 1917, no. 28. [as Yield of the Waters]
A Leading Spirit in American Art: William Merritt Chase, 1849-1916. Exh. cat., Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington. Seattle, 1983, p. 34 (ill.).
Bryant, Keith L., Jr. William Merritt Chase: A Genteel Bohemian. Columbia, Missouri, 1991, pp. 45, 269, 273.
Gallati, Barbara Dayer. William Merritt Chase. New York, 1995, p. 121 (ill.).
Mitchell, Mark D. The Art of American Still Life: Audubon to Warhol. Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, 2015, pp. 192-193 (pl. 71).
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Credit Line for Reproduction
William Merritt Chase, The Yield of the Waters, 1878, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, City of Detroit Purchase, 16.5.
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