- Title
- Sketch for a Picture--Columbus before the Council of Salamanca (A) (Christopher Columbus before the Council of Salamanca)
- Date Made
- circa 1876
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 23 x 37 1/4 in. (58.42 x 94.62 cm)
- Accession Number
- AC1993.193.1
- Collecting Area
- American Art
- Curatorial Notes
Exhibition Label, 1997
At the Munich Academy, where Chase studied from 1874 to 1878, he often had to compose sketches based on literature, history, or the Bible. Later these would be expanded into larger, more finished paintings. Such exercises taught the young artist to compose multi-figure scenes so that the narrative was easy to understand. Chase was near the end of his schooling when he first depicted Columbus explaining his belief in a western passage to India. Students were taught always to place the hero of a story in the center foreground, looking towards the viewer in the manner of a stage actor. Chase, flaunting his training, depicted Columbus with his back to the viewer. Nonetheless, he won a prize for the sketch. His furious teacher demanded that Chase paint a “correct” second version. Chase did so but never produced a larger example. Instead he returned to the United States, where he abandoned academic history painting for impressionism.
