William Merritt Chase, master of a full spectrum of techniques and painting styles, was also one of the most influential art teachers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Although he has been identified with the late realist school, the range of his work exceeds categorization. A vigorous teacher, Chase remained an avid student. He incorporated into his store of abilities every style and technical approach, new or old, that he found admirable.

     His paintings reflect his enthusiasms. A landscape might draw on the boldest impressionism; a still life, on the vigorous brushwork of the Munich school; a portrait, on lush classicism or on interior, subdued tonalism. No matter how eclectic, Chase's canvases maintain unerring harmony through his surety in composition, form, light and modeling. His work is characteristically fresh and energetic,' with lustrous surfaces.

     Chase, born in 1849 in Ninevah, Indiana, first studied art in Indianapolis. In 1870, he studied for a year at the National Academy of Design in New York City. Afterward, he supported himself painting still lifes. On a trip to visit his family in St. Louis he obtained patronage that enabled him to study in Europe. From 1872 to 1876, Chase attended the Royal Academy in Munich. The curriculum emphasized the dramatic high lighting, dark backgrounds and full pigments of the seventeenth-century masters. In 1877, Chase visited Venice for nine months with other Munich students, Franch Duveneck and John H. Twachtman. He returned in 1878 to New York City, where his work had gained notice at the previous year's National Academy show. He had also won a medal at the Centennial Exhibition inPhiladelphia.

     Chase began to teach at the Art Students League and opened his own studio, soon a mecca for artists breaking with academic conventions. Gregarious, forceful and unconventional, Chase encouraged his students' individual artistry. To train others in his rapid facility, he had students do a portrait in one hour, wipe it away, and do another in less time. Chase also taught at his summer home in Shinnecock, Long Island, for 11 years; for more than 10 years at the Chase School, later the New York School of Art; and  at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He also pioneered summer classes abroad. His students, many of whom became famous, included Kenneth Hayes Miller, Marsden Hartley, Rockwell Kent, Charles Denrath, Charles Sheeler, and Georgia O'Keeffe. Chase died in 1916, in New York City.