A Study (The Artist's Wife) 1892

William Merritt Chase painted "A Study (The Artist's Wife)" using oil on canvas, although the exact date of its creation is unknown. What’s interesting here is the positioning of the woman within the context of her husband's artistic practice. Chase, an American artist, was part of a generation that looked to European models, and the work here recalls the Old Masters in some ways, but at the same time is a modern and informal composition. Consider the gaze of the sitter; the woman's identity is linked to the figure in the landscape painting behind her. Here, Chase asks us to consider his role in shaping both the painted image and his wife’s persona. The woman is part of the artist's world, but also a subject within it. She may have had little power over how she was represented. To find out more, look at the archives of art institutions of the period, and the writings of social historians of gender and domesticity. This may help us better understand the social dynamics at play in this painting.