Bessie Potter

William Merritt Chase

ca. 1895 · Oil on canvas · The American Wing

Bessie Potter (1872–1955) was born in Saint Louis and studied in Chicago. She earned a reputation as a sculptor of statuettes in bronze that portray intimate feminine subjects. In 1899, she married the painter Robert Vonnoh and lived in New York, where she and her husband undoubtedly knew Chase. In this portrait, Chase captures Potter's sensitive but reserved personality. Her pose and the soft turban that she wears recall those in a self-portrait (1790; Uffizi, Florence) by the French painter Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755–1842), whom Potter apparently admired.

Artist

William Merritt Chase

Date

ca. 1895

Medium

Oil on canvas

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Bequest of Bessie Potter Vonnoh Keyes, 1954