WILLIAM MERRITT CHASE
(American, 1849-1916)
Port of Antwerp
ca. 1883-4, oil on canvas
signed Wm. M. Chase lower left
15 x 21 in., frame: 22 x 28 in.
Provenance: The Estate of a Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts Lady.
Literature: Pisano, Ronald G., completed by Carolyn K. Lane and D. Frederick Baker. William Merritt Chase: Landscapes in Oil (Vol. 3). New Haven and London: 2009, cat. no. L.41, pp. 25-26.
Grogan & Company thanks D. Frederick Baker for confirming that this work is entry L.41 in the William Merritt Chase catalogue raisonné.
Exhibitions: Essex County Art Association Exhibition, Newark, New Jersey, Spring 1884, no. 76 (as Antwerp); American Art Association Inaugural Exhibition, New York, Nov-Dec. 1884, no. 198 (as Port of Antwerp); Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1902, lent by Mr. John Caldwell, a trustee of the Institute.
Other Notes: Bears Milch Galleries (New York, New York) label; bears Carnegie Institute (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) label verso [both as In the Harbor].
The newly rediscovered William Merritt Chase painting Port of Antwerp showcases both the artist’s signature technique and palette. The harbor scene, depicted with unfettered brushwork and subtle inflections of blue and grey tones, also speaks to the artist’s ongoing experimentation with plein-air painting throughout his career.