Self-Portrait

After studying in Europe in the 1870s, Chase returned to the United States where he taught at several professional schools in New York City, Philadelphia and on Long Island, influencing an entire generation of artists. Working from the painterly styles of Frans Hals and Anthony Van Dyck, Chase developed a modified impressionism characterized by loose brushwork. He became one of the most prominent portrait painters of his day, although he is also known for landscapes and genre paintings.

In this late, bust-length Self-Portrait, Chase presents himself as an elegant gentleman.  Everything about him suggests his wealth and ease, from his glasses and the flower in his buttonhole to his grand mustache.  Even his position within the canvas connotes power; depicted close to the picture plane, he fills and thoroughly dominates the space. The bravado brushwork, for which Chase is widely noted, is evident throughout the painting, particularly in the cravat and beard. There is nothing, however, to suggest that Chase's wealth comes from his work as a painter.  Although artists such as Rembrandt and Velazquez depicted themselves at work, claiming for painting an exalted status, artists just as often captured themselves as upper class gentility with no references to their profession.