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(American, 1849–1916)

Portrait Sketch of a Woman with Mantilla

undated
Graphite on cream laid paper (a sheet removed from one of the artist's sketchbooks)
Image: 4 x 3 3/4 in. (10.2 x 9.5 cm)
Sheet: 7 x 4 3/8 in. (17.8 x 11.1 cm)
Credit LineTerra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection
Object number1999.31a
Interpretation
Portrait Sketch of a Woman with Mantilla is a bust likeness of a woman in profile, turned to the left, with a sheer mantilla or veil over the dark hair gathered up behind her head. A flat dark background is rendered by an area of parallel strokes of graphite that frames her head. The woman’s profile is rather heavily worked in a manner uncharacteristic of William Merritt Chase, and in contrast to the technique he used for his Sketch of a Man, Whistling (TF 1999.31b) on the other side of this sheet, which once was part of a sketchbook. Both Portrait Sketch of a Woman with Mantilla and Sketch of a Man, Whistling may well date to Chase’s student days in Munich, Germany. Indeed, the woman’s dress, particularly her mantilla, suggests a European subject.
ProvenanceThe artist
Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York, New York
Daniel J. Terra Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1993
Terra Foundation for the Arts Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1999
Self-Portrait
William Merritt Chase
c. 1915
Metadata embedded, 2017
William Merritt Chase
1892
metadata embedded, 2021
William Merritt Chase
by 1886
metadata embedded, 2021
William Merritt Chase
c. 1892
Metadata Embedded, 2019
William Merritt Chase
c. 1910
Metadata Embedded, 2017
William Merritt Chase
c. 1885
Metadata Embedded, 2017
William Merritt Chase
1892
Metadata Embedded, 2017
William Merritt Chase
by 1889
Metadata Embedded, 2019
William Merritt Chase
c. 1897
Sketch of a Man, Whistling
William Merritt Chase
undated
Metadata Embedded, 2019
William Merritt Chase
c. 1888