The Old Road to the Sea (c. 1893): Art, History and Details

The Old Road to the Sea (c. 1893) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is William Merritt Chase (American, 1849–1916).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

One of the most influential of the American Impressionists, William Merritt Chase established his own summer school at Shinnecock, on the eastern tip of Long Island, New York. Attracted to the low-lying dunes and beaches, Chase and his students were among the first American artists to pursue open-air painting. With its varied brushwork and warm colors, this painting is among the finest works Chase produced at Shinnecock. The panoramic scene glows with the light of a summer day. The Chase school at Shinnecock, active from 1891-1902, was instrumental in expanding the influence of Impressionism in the United States.

Object facts

• Title: The Old Road to the Sea
• Date: c. 1893
• Creator attribution: William Merritt Chase (American, 1849–1916)
• Culture: America
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: Framed: 134.3 x 159.7 x 10.8 cm (52 7/8 x 62 7/8 x 4 1/4 in.); Unframed: 101.5 x 127 cm (39 15/16 x 50 in.); Former: 118.5 x 144 x 5.5 cm (46 5/8 x 56 11/16 x 2 3/16 in.)
• Collection: American - Painting
• Department: American Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1938.333

A detail from the museum

Chase loved big dogs, variously owning a greyhound, a borzoi, and an Irish wolfhound.

Collection credit

Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon

Further reading listed by the museum

• Francis, Henry S. “‘Shinnecock Hills’ by William M. Chase.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 26, no. 2 (February 1939): 19–20.
• Francis, Henry S. “Portraits by Whistler and Chase.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 52, no. 1 (January 1965): 19–23.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.