CHASE, WILLIAM MERRITT American painter, was born at Franklin, Ind., on Nov. 1, 1849. He was a pupil of B. F. Hays in Indianapolis, of J. O. Eaton in New York and of A. Wagner and Piloty in Munich. In New York he estab lished a school of his own, after having taught with success for some years at the Art Students' League. A worker in all mediums -oils, water-colour, pastel and etching-painting with distinc tion the figure, landscape and still life, he is perhaps best known by his portraits, his sitters numbering some of the most impor tant men and women of his time.
Chase won many honours at home and abroad, became a mem ber of the National Academy of Design, New York, and for ten years was president of the Society of American Artists. In 1912 he was awarded the Proctor Prize by the National Academy of Design for his "Portrait of Mrs. H." At the Panama Pacific Ex position (1915) a special room was assigned to his works. Among his most important canvases are "Ready for the Ride" (Union League Club, N.Y.), "The Apprentice," "Court Jester," and por traits of the painters, Whistler and Duveneck; of General Webb and of Peter Cooper.
See T. Walker McSpadden, Famous Painters of America (1916). CHASE. (I) The pursuit of wild animals for food or sport (Fr. chasee, Lat. capere, to take), and so the pursuit of anything: (See HUNTING.) The word was also applied to park land reserved for the breeding and hunting of wild animals ; cf. various place names in England, as Cannock Chase. It is also a term for a stroke in tennis (q.v.). (2) An enclosure (Fr. chasee, Lat. capsa, a box), such as the muzzle-end of a gun in front of the trunnions; or, in typography (q.v.) the frame enclosing the page of type.
(See PRINTING.)