William Merritt Chase:

"Still Life with Fish" by William Merritt Chase

"In the summer of 1913 William Merritt Chase again had a class in Italy, this time in Venice. It was his last European class. The story of the summer he tells in his many letters to his wife.

One from Venice mentions a visit to Madame Fortuny [widow of Spanish artist Mariano Fortuny, who had lived and worked in Italy]. 'She is an old, well-preserved lady of seventy-three. She owns a small palace here where she has lived for a number of years. At the time of her husband's sale after his death at Paris she brought back many of his studies and many of the fine stuffs. The studio and begun pictures are splendid and the stuffs are magnificent. It was a rare treat which I am sorry you could not have enjoyed with me. She asked me to come again to see some etchings by Fortuny and some by Goya. Of course I will go. I feel a fresh spell of enthusiasm after seeing the things.'

A pupil in Chase's class who went with him to visit Madame Fortuny says that the great artist's widow had a real understanding of art and expressed a great desire to see Chase's work, but as she was old and not very strong she did not feel able to make the journey to his studio. Determined that if Madame Fortuny wanted to see his pictures, she should. He filled a gondola with his work - Venetian sketches, fish pictures and portrait heads - and gave the Spanish painter's widow a private view at her own house. Both Chase's work and the gracefulness of his act delighted Madame Fortuny inexpressibly.

Another letter concerning his unfinished picture records a typical painter state of mind at that stage of his work. 'While I don't know what it will look like tomorrow, I feel now that I've got something that you will care for. I will tell you in my next letter how I find it.' Before he concludes he acknowledges with profuse gratitude the receipt of some homemade butterscotch.

One of his greatest pleasures during those summers in Europe was the buying of presents for his wife and eight children. 'Won't Mary be lovely in that little blue coat?' he would exclaim or 'That flame-colored lining on Dorothy, eh?' and 'That blue and gold scarf will just suit Helen.' 'He bought things like a prince,' said a pupil who was with him on some of his shopping expeditions. 'Nothing was too good for them. The price was not even to be asked when he thought he had found something they would like.'"

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Life and Art of William Merritt Chase" by Katharine Metcalf Roof.)