4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2010.

Susan Watkins

Artist William Merritt Chase (American, 1849-1916)

Dateca. 1914

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions75 × 52 in. (190.5 × 132.1 cm)
Overall, Frame: 85 1/2 × 62 1/4 × 4 1/2 in. (217.2 × 158.1 × 11.4 cm)

ClassificationsAmerican art

Credit LineBequest of Goldsborough Serpell

Object number46.76.159

Terms

Susan Watkins
Painters
Studio
White
Tan
Gold
Blue
Multi

On View

On view

DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting done in memory of Susan Watkins a year after she died. She was also a painter and the room she sits in suggests that this was her studio. There is a large painting behind her, another in a gilt frame on her left. In her hands she holds a print from one of her own famous engravings. Behind her and in the center of the canvas is a jar of paint brushes. The brushwork for this portrait is loose and soft. She is the central focus, formally dressed in a long white gown with a white coat over her shoulders. Her dark brown hair has been done up on her head and pulled away from her face.

Label TextWilliam Merritt Chase American, 1849–1916 Susan Watkins, ca. 1914 Oil on canvas Shortly after the premature death of the painter Susan Watkins, William Merritt Chase created this monumental portrait as a memorial to his friend and former student. Though Watkins wears an elegant evening gown, the studio setting, with its easel and pot of paintbrushes, reveals her profession. Chase regarded Watkins as one of the best woman painters of their day, and the scale and sophistication of this portrait testify to his respect for her life and art. Bequest of Goldsborough Serpell 46.76.159