American Art Collaborative

William Merritt Chase was one of the most successful painters of his day and the preeminent teacher of American—and particularly women—artists in the 1890s and early 1900s. The informal signature at the left side and the loose brushwork suggest that this portrait was likely created as a demonstration piece in the classroom. Chase often gave his demonstration pieces to the most worthy students of the day, or to those in his classes who posed for him. The artist Verona Arnold Kiralfy (1893–1946), a student of Chase’s at the Art Students League for six years, acquired the painting from her teacher, evidence that she may be this mysterious and melancholy woman in black.