Portrait of Dora Wheeler
Dora Wheeler became Chase's first student when he returned from overseas study in Munich and set up a teaching studio in New York. At the time, few American artists accepted women as private pupils. After her course of study, Wheeler joined her mother in launching a successful decorating firm, one of the first businesses in the country to be operated entirely by women. For the firm, she designed luxurious textiles, and the embroidered silk tapestry that fills the background in her portrait references her occupational interest. Chase's portrait was awarded a gold medal at an international exhibition of contemporary art in Munich in 1883, and later that year was also shown in Paris. At some later point, the painting was acquired by the sitter, who subsequently donated it to the museum.
Colors in this work
Details
- Date
- 1882–83
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- framed: height 1.806 m, width 1.886 m, depth 0.11 m; unframed: height 1.598 m, width 1.664 m
- Origin
- America
- Department
- American Painting and Sculpture
- Holding institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Palette
-
Select a color to find related artworks.
- Image provider
- cleveland-museum-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Gift of Mrs. Boudinot Keith in memory of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade
Art Genome Taxonomy
11 tags
Subject Matter
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Individual Portrait Both · 99%
The title identifies Dora Wheeler, and the image centers on one clearly individualized seated sitter.
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Animals Visual · 90%
A small furry animal is visibly held across the sitter’s lap; its species is not established by the supplied metadata.
Styles and Movements
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19th Century American Art Metadata · 97%
The artist is identified as American and the work is dated 1882–83, supporting its classification within nineteenth-century American art.
Visual Qualities
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Bright and Vivid Colors Visual · 86%
Saturated blue in the dress and strong yellow in the flowers stand out against the muted gold and brown surroundings.
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Dark Colors Visual · 93%
The chair, table, floor, hair, and fur create extensive areas of deep brown and black.
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Patterns Visual · 96%
The tapestry-like background contains repeated floral and curving motifs, with additional patterned and textured surfaces in the dress, chair, and fur.
Medium and Techniques
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Oil Painting Both · 99%
The museum specifies oil on canvas, and the image visibly presents an oil-painted canvas with blended and brushy passages.
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Large Brushstrokes/Loose Brushwork Visual · 90%
Broad, broken, visibly worked brushstrokes are apparent in the dress, flowers, fur, vessel, and decorative background.
Time Periods
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19th Century Art Metadata · 99%
The catalog dates the painting to 1882–83, within the nineteenth century.
Geographic Regions
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American Art Metadata · 99%
The museum metadata gives the place of origin as America and places the work within American Painting and Sculpture.
Textiles
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Tapestry and Wall Hanging Both · 99%
The background is visibly dominated by a decorative textile, and the museum identifies it as an embroidered silk tapestry associated with Wheeler’s textile-design interests.
Source & rights
William Merritt Chase (American, 1849–1916). Portrait of Dora Wheeler. Cleveland Museum of Art.
High-resolution sources
- Original TIFF ↗ 5,000 × 4,786 · Cleveland Museum Of Art · Available