William Merritt Chase (1849-1916) is one of the foremost American artists. Not only a virtuoso artist who was equally comfortable in a wide range of mediums including oil, watercolor, pastel, and pencil, he also worked in a range of themes including portraiture, figure painting, still life, interiors, and landscapes. He was also a talented and giving teacher and an early promoter of women's art education. Unfortunately there are no Chase letters or diaries to tell us about his thoughts or working processes, although a range of photographs of his family and his famous studio, located in the Tenth Street Studio Building, survive in the public domain. Along with a dearth of archival material, few preliminary artworks such as drawings and oil or watercolor studies for his finished paintings are known. Therefore these small drawings of plants, probably done during the summer at Shinnecock Hills, his residence on Long Island, are rare. They were passed down among the effects of one of Chase's women students living and working in the Boston area. Given their small size and rectangular format, they are probably pages torn from a pocket sketchbook. Despite their humble appearance, these spontaneous drawings demonstrate Chase's talents as a keen observer and draftsman. In the lower right drawing, the simple outline of a pig's head with its floppy ears, can barely be detected, yet presents a lifelike, humorous appearance. I am happy to say that these drawings found a wonderful new home in the collection of Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY, where Chase, his wife, and various family members are at rest. Thanks to an article I published in Maine Antique Digest that was seen by Green-Wood historian Jeff Richman, who contacted me, these drawings and related illuminated manuscript are now in the collection where they belong.

Green Wood Cemetery collection

Rare drawings by William Merritt Chase- Gifted to Green Wood Cemetery