Sketch of a Man, Whistling

Sketch of a Man, Whistling, executed in rapid, bold strokes of graphite, is a quick study of a boy or young man, his face turned slightly to the left, with puffed cheeks and puckered lips; lines at his lips indicate the whistling sound made as he blows air from his mouth. Probably dating to early in the artist’s career, the sketch is on the opposite side of the sheet, removed from a sketchbook, on which William Merritt Chase drew Portrait Sketch of a Woman in a Mantilla (TF 1999.31a). This drawing suggests the student’s interest in quickly recording the minutiae of everyday life, with particular interest in the problem of capturing movement and suggesting sound. The motif of a whistling figure, in particular, recalls the painting The Whistling Boy (1872, Cincinnati Art Museum) by Chase’s contemporary Frank Duveneck. Duveneck painted this masterpiece of his early career in 1872, when he, Chase, and painter Walter Shirlaw (1838–1909) formed a close trio that was at the center of the American artists’ community in Munich, Germany. On at least one occasion, Chase and Duveneck each painted images of one arrangement of a model and setting, and it is tempting to imagine that Chase made his Sketch of a Man, Whistling from the model posing for Duveneck’s painting.