Portrait of a Man

c. 1875

This painting was long thought to portray the Norwegian artist Eilif Peterssen, in part because it appears hanging on the wall in a photograph of his studio. The man represented in this painting, however, looks nothing like Peterssen’s self-portrait. Chase and Peterssen both studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich during the 1870s. Chase’s painting may portray a mutual acquaintance or it may simply be a “study head”—an academic exercise in light, shade, and the handling of paint.

Medium	oil on canvas
Dimensions	24 x 19 in. (61 x 48.3 cm)
Object Number	1980.43
Acquisition	Gift of Asbjorn R. Lunde, 1980
Status	Off View

Image Caption

William Merritt Chase, Portrait of a Man, c. 1875, oil on canvas. Clark Art Institute, gift of Asbjorn R Lunde, 1980.43

Select Bibliography

Lunde, Asbjorn R. Den Ville Natur: Sveitsisk og Norsk Romantikk: Malerier fra Asjørn Lundes samling, New York. Exhibition catalogue. Tromsø: The Art Museum of Northern Norway, 2007. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984. Conrads, Margaret C. American Paintings and Sculpture at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1990. Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992.

Provenance

Eilif Peterssen, 1852-1928, Norway (possibly 1878[1]-by 1928, sale, Blomquist Auction House, Oslo, c. 1930); Alf S. Bjerke, Norway (possibly acquired from Peterssen estate, 1931-1968, sold to Lunde); Asbjorn R. Lunde, b. 1927 (1968-1980, by gift to the Clark Art Institute, 31 Dec. 1980); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1980. [1] William Merritt Chase and Eilif Peterssen studied in Munich at the same time when the painting was created, 1874-1878.