An English Cod
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 91.76 × 101.92 cm (36 1/8 × 40 1/8 in.) framed: 47 1/2 x 51 7/8 x 5 in. (120.65 x 131.76 x 12.7 cm)
Classification
Painting
Department
CAB
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund)
Accession Number
2014.136.5
Art Historical Context
William Merritt Chase, a leading American painter of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, created “An English Cod” in 1904 during a period when he was celebrated for his lively still-life compositions. Trained in both Europe and the United States, Chase blended realist observation with loose, impressionistic brushwork, bringing fresh vitality to traditional subjects. His fish paintings, in particular, became a signature motif, admired for their technical brilliance and unexpected elegance. Painted in oil on canvas, the work showcases the medium’s rich capacity for texture and lu...
About the Artist
William Merritt Chase
Prolific painter of portraits, interiors, still lifes and landscapes, famed for establishing the fresh colour and bravura technique used in much early 20th-century American painting. He was considered the most important American teacher of his time; after teaching at the Art Students League of NY he formed the Chase School of Art in 1896. Comment on works: genre, Portraits