Morgan Martin
Head of Department
PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF RANDALL C. WALLACE, EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA
Lot 54
William Merritt Chase(1849-1916)Head of an Old Woman 15 1/4 x 13 1/4 in. (38.7 x 33.7 cm.)
18 November 2021, 14:00 EST
New YorkSold for US$5,355 inc. premium
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William Merritt Chase (1849-1916)
Head of an Old Woman
oil on board laid down on panel, unframed
15 1/4 x 13 1/4 in. (38.7 x 33.7 cm.)
Painted in 1881.
oil on board laid down on panel, unframed
15 1/4 x 13 1/4 in. (38.7 x 33.7 cm.)
Painted in 1881.
Footnotes
Provenance
Robert John Wickenden (1861-1931), New York, gift from the artist, 1881.
Dr. Robert Thomas Daubigny Wickenden (1901-1989), Victoria, British Columbia, by descent from the above, 1931.
Dr. John Nicholas Wickenden (b. 1935), Alberta, Edmonton, by descent from the above, 1989.
Acquired from the above by the present owner, circa 1990s.
Literature
R.G. Pisano, William Merritt Chase: Still Lifes, Interiors, Figures, Copies of Old Masters, and Drawings, New Haven, Connecticut, 2010, vol. 4, pp. 138-39, no. F.17, illustrated.
The present work is included in Ronald G. Pisano's The Completed Catalogue of Known and Documented Work by William Merritt Chase (1849-1916) as no. F.17. The work is accompanied by the original Art Research Report issued by Ronald G. Pisano, Inc. and signed by D. Frederick Baker, dated September 21, 2021.
The verso of the present work bears an inscription that reads "Painted by Wm. M. Chase May 24, 1881 at the Art Student's League, 105, Fifth Avenue, New York, From Life, for and before me Robert J. Wickenden."
Head of an Old Woman by William Merritt Chase is believed to have served as a demonstration piece painted in 1881 during one of Chase's classes at the Art Student's League in New York. Chase frequently painted demonstration pieces during his classes to illustrate his painting technique and presented them to his students for meritorious work. Ronald G. Pisano, Inc. notes that the style and handling of "The painting is much indebted to the bold and brushy style promulgated at the Royal Munich Academy where Chase studied from 1871 until 1877." (unpublished Art Research Report, September 21, 2021) The present work was awarded to his student and artist Robert John Wickenden (1861-1931) as the inscription on the reverse suggests and the inscription is believed to have been added by Wickenden some time after the work was awarded to him. Many of Chase's demonstration pieces were left unsigned, but often they carried inscriptions on the reverse, such as the one on the present work, by his students that were in attendance when the demonstration pieces were completed. The address for the Art Student's League is misidentified as 105 Fifth Avenue instead of 108 Fifth Avenue and it has been suggested that the inscription may have been copied incorrectly from the original back onto the present backing or that the inscription might have been added much later after the work was completed and that Wickenden's memory of the address was incorrect. (R.G. Pisano, William Merritt Chase: Still Lifes, Interiors, Figures, Copies of Old Masters, and Drawings, New Haven, Connecticut, 2010, vol. 4, p. 138)
