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Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Page Created on August 31, 2026 / Page Updated on November 6, 2026
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000

Terrace, Prospect Park: Introduction

In Terrace, Prospect Park, William Merritt Chase turns a modest corner of Brooklyn’s designed landscape into an encounter with colour and movement. The eye crosses a broad foreground towards steps, balustrades and planting beneath a dense canopy. Pastel lets individual strokes remain conspicuous, yet their apparent speed belongs to a carefully ordered, finished picture.

At a Glance

  • ArtistWilliam Merritt Chase (1849–1916)
  • Datec.1887
  • MediumPastel; classified as a drawing by the Smithsonian American Art Museum
  • Dimensions23.3 × 35.2 cm
  • CollectionSmithsonian American Art Museum, accession 1929.6.12
  • SettingA terrace in Prospect Park, Brooklyn

William Merritt Chase in context

Works
18751885189519051916

Keying Up – The Court Jester

1875

The Tenth Street Studio

1880

Portrait of Dora Wheeler

1882–83

Terrace, Prospect Park

c. 1887

A Friendly Call

1895

Shinnecock Hills

c. 1895

Still Life: Fish

by 1908

Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. A Terrace Encountered in Passing
  3. Horizontal Design and Shallow Architecture
  4. Pastel: Line, Layer and Touch
  5. How Colour Constructs the Light
  6. A Finished Pastel in a Drawing Collection
  7. Park Space Without Invented Biography
  8. Comparing Study of Flesh Color and Gold
  9. Brooklyn and Shinnecock Are Not Interchangeable

A Terrace Encountered in Passing

Pale pink-grey ground occupies much of the lower half, animated by white, yellow, green and brown strokes. Some marks read as light crossing the path; others suggest fallen leaves or irregularities underfoot. The surface is open but never inert.

The view gathers around a flight of steps just beyond the centre. A low kerb approaches diagonally from the lower right, while terrace walls and balustrades stretch across the middle distance. Red flowers burn against light masonry. Above, loosely massed greens and yellows form a leafy ceiling, with small blue intervals allowing air through the foliage.

A dark figure moves towards the steps. Farther shapes indicate other people, but they are too small to identify. Chase uses them as measures of distance and signs of passage rather than portrait subjects.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum dates the pastel to about 1887, records its dimensions as 23.3 × 35.2 centimetres and identifies it as accession 1929.6.12.[1] Those compact measurements reinforce the intimacy of the encounter. This is not a panoramic declaration about the city; it is a concentrated observation within it.

Horizontal Design and Shallow Architecture

The format is wider than it is high, but Chase does not open a distant vista. He stacks shallow bands: foreground path, diagonal kerb, steps and flowerbeds, pale terrace architecture, then vegetation. Overlap and changing scale create depth.

The kerb’s slant invites the eye in, then the steps redirect attention upwards. Horizontal walls resist that motion. The dark figure connects the near ground to the architecture, while bright strokes recur on both sides.

Cropping makes this a partial view: the terrace continues beyond the right edge, the path arrives from outside and the canopy is cut at the top. The large foreground slows entry, counterbalanced by the densely worked upper half.

That combination is central to his New York park scenes. Paths, borders and terraces are not neutral backgrounds. They choreograph how people move and how a viewer reads the picture.

Pastel: Line, Layer and Touch

Pastel allowed Chase to shift among several marks: a narrow accent from the tip, a broader patch from the side, or a soft veil made by rubbing. Here, slender lights cross the ground, thicker strokes build foliage and blended blue-green passages suggest depth.

Layering gives the small work density. Red touches sit against cool green and pale stone; darker lines sharpen the kerb and steps; light marks skim the warm ground. Architecture becomes firm where direction matters, while foliage and scattered illumination stay mutable.

The surface looks quick, but appearance does not establish duration. The record does not prove one-sitting or wholly outdoor execution. “Rapid-looking” is safer: the marks preserve force and direction while the arrangement shows sustained judgement.

Chase’s wider pastels and works on paper demonstrate why the medium should be considered independently. It offered painterly colour without requiring the smooth closure that viewers sometimes mistake for finish.

How Colour Constructs the Light

Colour differences separate one zone from another. The pale walkway advances against the saturated middle band. Red planting punctuates the terrace, and a dark upright figure holds the centre. Greens broken by yellow and blue suggest sun filtered through leaves.

White recurs on paving, steps, walls and foliage, while red appears in separate clusters. These repetitions bind the spatial divisions and keep attention circulating beyond the figure.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art places Chase’s park subjects within a lighter, outdoor strand of a career also embracing darker portraits, interiors and still lifes.[2] Here, differences of value and hue make atmosphere and architecture legible together.

A Finished Pastel in a Drawing Collection

The Smithsonian records pastel as the medium and drawing as the classification.[1] The descriptions are compatible. A museum category neither turns the picture into pencil work nor proves that it prepared an oil.

The National Gallery of Art includes pastels within Chase’s career record.[3] Its account of a major pastel exhibition also stresses the medium’s colour and painterly effects, placing Chase in a longer history of ambitious work in dry pigment.[4]

Completion lies in pictorial resolution rather than polished uniformity. Format, intervals, repeated colours and the balance of open and crowded areas work together. The grain of loose strokes belongs to the statement.

This distinction helps when navigating Chase’s paintings and artworks. Oil and pastel offer different kinds of edge, saturation and surface. Neither needs to imitate the other to count as a complete work.

Park Space Without Invented Biography

Stairs, walls, planting beds and a maintained path mark Prospect Park as designed rather than isolated nature. Small figures make human circulation one element among vegetation, architecture and light.

This is public park space, but the marks cannot reveal who the figures were, why they came or how different communities experienced the grounds. The nearest figure has no recoverable face; occupations, class identities and relationships remain unknown.

Cultivated planting, built routes and anonymous movement nevertheless identify a modern metropolitan landscape. Chase finds pictorial interest where looking and walking occur together.

The biography of William Merritt Chase places the work within his New York career after his return from Europe in 1878. By the later 1880s, the city offered him subjects far beyond the formal studio without severing his connection to artistic display and teaching.

Comparing Study of Flesh Color and Gold

The National Gallery’s Study of Flesh Color and Gold, dated 1888, provides a useful near-contemporary comparison. It is a pastel on prepared paper, accession 2007.94.2.[5] Its vertical field is dominated by the back of a seated figure, with dark hair, pale skin, green cloth and a gold-toned surrounding space.

In that work, modelling follows gradual shifts across the body while stronger strokes enliven fabric and setting. Terrace, Prospect Park distributes broken marks across paving, flowers, masonry and leaves. One concentrates colour around a nearby figure; the other makes people small accents in a spatial weave.

There is no standard Chase pastel effect. Dry pigment describes continuous flesh and emphatic cloth in one work, flickering vegetation and architectural direction in the other. The figure study concentrates attention; the Brooklyn view disperses it through space.

Neither picture should be demoted to rehearsal. Each organises colour, touch and format as an independent pictorial argument.

Brooklyn and Shinnecock Are Not Interchangeable

Chase’s later Shinnecock landscapes explore outdoor colour and changing light in another place and history. Civic architecture bounds Prospect Park and compresses depth; Shinnecock pictures more often extend across fields, roads and broader horizons.

Medium sharpens the difference. This Brooklyn work is a small pastel; prominent Shinnecock landscapes include larger oils. Broken colour does not make the locations one generic outdoors.

The Shinnecock landscapes and teaching require recognition that Chase’s summer school operated on ancestral and present Shinnecock land. That history cannot be transferred to Prospect Park, just as park planning cannot explain Shinnecock. Within the William Merritt Chase overview, comparison is most useful when it preserves those differences of land, medium and function.

Researched works directory

This searchable evidence census contains 208 distinct records assembled from public collection data and a reproducible Wikidata snapshot. It is not a catalogue raisonné, not a claim of complete oeuvre coverage, and it keeps works with repeated titles as separate objects.

208 artworks

NameDateMedium
A City Park1887Painting
A Corner of My StudioDate unknownPainting
A Dutch Landscape1884Painting
A Friendly Call1895Painting
A Gray Day1886Painting
A Modern Magdalen1888Painting
A Spanish Gypsy1905Painting
Albert Harkness (1822–1907)1908Painting
Alice1892Painting
An Afternoon Stroll1895Painting
An English Cod1904Painting
At the Seaside1890Painting
August B. Loeb1905Painting
Baron Hugo von Habermann1875Painting
Beach1895Painting
Bessie Potter1895Painting
Big Copper Kettle and Fish (Fish)Date unknownPainting
Bildnis Hugo von Habermann1875Painting
Brass Kettle and CatfishDate unknownPainting
Carmencita1890Painting
Courtyard in Venice1877Painting
Crucifixion1875Painting
Der japanische Holzschnitt1888Painting
Dieudonnée1899Painting
Dorothy1902Painting
Dr. Eduardo San Giovanni1906Drawing
Duveneck Painting "The Turkish Page1876Painting
Edward Everett Hale (1822-1909)1884Painting
Edward Guthrie Kennedy1895Painting
Edward Steichen1903Painting
Female Figure Study (front view)Date unknownPainting
Female Figure Study (side view)Date unknownPainting
First Touch of Autumn1898Painting
Fish1910Painting
Fish and Still Life1906Painting
Fish and Still Life1908Painting
Florence1907Painting
For the Little One1896Painting
Garden of the Orphanage, Haarlem, Holland1883Painting
Gathering Autumn Flowers1894Painting
Gathering Flowers, Shinnecock, Long Island1897Drawing
Girl at a BureauDate unknownPainting
Girl in a Japanese Costume1890Painting
Girl in Ciociaro costume1876Painting
Girl in White1890Painting
Girl with Doll1910Painting
Gray Day on the Bay1886Painting
Gray Day on the Lagoon1913Painting
Harbor Scene, Brooklyn Dock1886Painting
Harriet Hubbard Ayer1880Painting
Head of a Man1875Painting
Hide and Seek1888Painting
I Think I'm Ready Now1883Painting
Idle Hours1894Painting
In the Park (A By-path)1889Painting
In the Studio Corner1881Painting
In Venice1877Painting
James Abbott McNeill Whistler1885Painting
John Butler Talcott1900Painting
Just Onions (Onions; Still Life)Date unknownPainting
Keying Up" - The Court Jester1875Painting
Keying Up: The Court Jester1875Print
L'Éventail de plumesDate unknownPainting
Lady in Black1888Painting
Lady Playing GuitarDate unknownPainting
Landscape- Shinnecock, Long Island1896Painting
Long Island Landscape after a Shower of Rain (After the Shower)1889Painting
Lydia Field Emmet1892Painting
Man Wearing Gold Rimmed Glasses1892Painting
Marine1888Painting
Monkeying with Literature1877Painting
Moses SwaimDate unknownPainting
Mother and Child (The First Portrait)1887Painting
Mrs. Charles ScottDate unknownPainting
Mrs. Chase1890Painting
Mrs. Chase in Prospect Park1886Painting
Mrs. William Clark1915Painting
Mrs. William Merritt Chase1890Painting
My Little Daughter Dorothy1894Painting
My Palette1875Painting
Myra Reynolds1898Painting
Near the Beach, Shinnecock1895Painting
Near the Beach, ShinnecockDate unknownPainting
North River Shad1910Painting
Nude1901Painting
Open Air Breakfast1888Painting
Outskirts of Madrid1882Painting
Pablo de Sarasate: Portrait of a Violinist1875Painting
Park Bench1890Painting
Peace, Fort Hamilton1888Painting
Pink Azalea—Chinese Vase1885Painting
Portrait Head1882Painting
Portrait of a Boy in Van Dyck Costume1875Painting
Portrait of a Child1884Painting
Portrait of a Lady in Black1895Painting
Portrait of a Lady in Black (Annie Traquair Lang)1911Painting
Portrait of a Lady in PinkDate unknownPainting
Portrait of a Man1874Painting
Portrait of a Man1875Painting
Portrait of a WomanDate unknownPainting
Portrait of Artist Beck Wenzell1900Painting
Portrait of Baroness Ida-Gro van Dahlerup1907Painting
Portrait of Dora Wheeler1882Painting
Portrait of Lavinia Borden CookDate unknownPainting
Portrait of Louis BettsDate unknownPainting
Portrait of Master Otis Barton and his Grandfather1903Painting
Portrait of Miss D.Date unknownPainting
Portrait of Mrs. C. (Lady with a White Shawl)1893Painting
Portrait of Mrs. George B. Ely (Caroline Boies Ely)Date unknownPainting
Portrait of My Daughter Alice1895Painting
Portrait of My Father (David Hester Chase)Date unknownPainting
Portrait of My Mother (Sarah Swaim Chase)1892Painting
Portrait of William Francklyn ParisDate unknownPainting
Portrait of William Gurley Munson1868Painting
Ready for the Ride1877Painting
Red SnapperDate unknownPainting
Robert Frederick BlumDate unknownPainting
Roland1902Painting
Roses1883Drawing
Seaside Flowers1897Painting
Selbstbildnis1875Painting
Selbstporträt1915Painting
Self-Portrait1909Drawing
Self Portrait1914Painting
Self-Portrait1915Painting
Self-portrait dressed as Johan Claesz Loo by Frans Hals1903Painting
Seventeenth Century Lady1895Painting
Shell Beach at Shinnecock1892Painting
Shinnecock Hills1892Painting
Shinnecock Hills1893Painting
Shinnecock Hills1895Painting
Shinnecock Hills1895Painting
Shinnecock Hills Landscape1890Painting
Shinnecock Studio Interior1892Drawing
Sketch for a Picture--Columbus before the Council of Salamanca (A) (Christopher Columbus before the Council of Salamanca)1876Painting
Sketch for a Picture--Columbus before the Council of Salamanca (B) (Christopher Columbus before the Spanish Council)1876Painting
Sketch of a Child:Helen1898Painting
St. Jerome1875Painting
Still Life1912Painting
Still LifeDate unknownPainting
Still LifeDate unknownPainting
Still LifeDate unknownPainting
Still Life (Brass Bowl)Date unknownPainting
Still Life (Brushes, Books and Pottery)1904Painting
Still Life: Fish1900Painting
Still Life: Fish1903Painting
Still Life: Fish1908Painting
Still Life: Fish1912Painting
Still-life: Fish and Bowl1895Painting
Still Life (Fruit and Copper Pot)Date unknownPainting
Still Life (Fruit and Pottery)Date unknownPainting
Still Life--Striped Bass1907Painting
Still Life with Fish1800Painting
Still Life with Fish1910Painting
Still Life with Fish1912Painting
Still Life with FishDate unknownPainting
Still life with fruit1871Painting
Still Life with Hummingbird1870Painting
Still Life with Watermelon1869Painting
Studio Interior1882Painting
Study HeadDate unknownPainting
Study of a Girl in Japanese Dress1895Painting
Study of a Young Woman1883Painting
Study of Flesh Color and Gold1888Drawing
Summer at Shinnecock Hills1891Painting
Sunlight and Shadow, Shinnecock Hills1893Painting
Tenth Street Studio1880Painting
Terrace at the Mall1890Painting
Terrace, Prospect Park1887Drawing
The Antiquary Shop1879Painting
The Apprentice (Boy with Apple)1876Painting
The Big Brass BowlDate unknownPainting
The Blue Kimono1915Painting
The Boat Harbor (Gowanus Pier)1888Painting
The Coast of Holland1884Painting
The Emerald LadyDate unknownPainting
The Family Cow (Calf's Head)1869Painting
The Keynote1915Painting
The Kimono1895Painting
The Mirror1900Painting
The Model1888Drawing
The Moorish Warrior1878Painting
The Old Road to the Sea1893Painting
The Patrician1875Painting
The Song1907Painting
The Stately Model1898Painting
The Tenth Street Studio1880Painting
The Tow Path1880Painting
The Turkish Page (Unexpected Intrusion)1876Painting
The Whistling Boy1875Painting
The Wounded Poacher1878Painting
The Yield of the Waters1878Painting
The Young Orphan1884Painting
Thomas E. Kirby1900Painting
Thomas MoranDate unknownPainting
Under a French Sky1882Painting
Venetian Lace MakingDate unknownDrawing
View from Central Park1889Painting
View near Polling1875Painting
William A. Clark1915Painting
William Andrews Clark1915Painting
William Nimick Frew1915Painting
William Rockhill Nelson1907Painting
Wind-Swept Sands1894Painting
Woman in White1902Painting
Woman Seated1885Drawing
Woman Standing in a LandscapeDate unknownPainting
Worthington Whittredge1890Painting

Frequently Asked Questions

What kind of artwork is Terrace, Prospect Park?

It is a pastel. The Smithsonian American Art Museum classifies the object as a drawing, which describes its collection category rather than changing its stated medium.[1]

When was Terrace, Prospect Park made, and where is it now?

Chase made it around 1887. The Smithsonian American Art Museum holds it as accession 1929.6.12; the sheet measures 23.3 × 35.2 centimetres.[1]

Who are the figures in the scene?

Their identities are not established by the institutional record. They are best understood visually as anonymous park users who provide scale and movement, not as named relatives or documented sitters.

Why is so much of the foreground left open?

The broad path delays the viewer’s arrival at the steps and terrace. Scattered strokes activate that interval, while the diagonal kerb leads the eye towards the denser middle and upper zones.

Is Terrace, Prospect Park an Impressionist work?

Its outdoor subject, light palette and discrete touches make that comparison useful. The label is not sufficient on its own, however, because Chase also relies on deliberate architectural structure and a wider practice shaped by several artistic traditions.[2]

Discussion

Use this evidence-led guide as a starting point for close looking rather than a final verdict.

Share an observation about Terrace, Prospect Park or a source that adds useful context.

Reader Insights

Close Looking

Which visible detail most changes your reading of Terrace, Prospect Park?

Context

How do medium, scale, setting and current museum evidence shape the encounter?

Open Question

What remains uncertain once documented fact is separated from visual inference?

Join the Conversation

Add your reading below, keeping observations specific and evidence clear.

References

  1. Terrace, Prospect Park — Smithsonian American Art Museum, accessed 31 August 2026, accessed 31 August 2026.
  2. William Merritt Chase (1849–1916) — Metropolitan Museum of Art, accessed 31 August 2026, accessed 31 August 2026.
  3. William Merritt Chase — National Gallery of Art, accessed 31 August 2026, accessed 31 August 2026.
  4. The Touch of Color: Pastels at the National Gallery of Art — National Gallery of Art, accessed 31 August 2026, accessed 31 August 2026.
  5. Study of Flesh Color and Gold — National Gallery of Art, accessed 31 August 2026, accessed 31 August 2026.