1878, William Merritt Chase, The Wounded Poacher -- Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond)
From the museum label: A man's worn and bristled face emerges from the shadows, an eyebrow raised in daring challenge to the uninvited spectator. Weathered hands cradle a smoker's pipe, yet the clay barrel, glinting with the look of metal and pointed outward in silent threat, suggests a firearm. The allusion to a "smoking gun" is suggested by the painting's original subtitle, Blown to Blazes. The ominous sensibility is amplified by the dramatic chiaroscurism; light descends from the left foreground and bounces off the white head cloth, catching the edge of the sleeve and playing about the topography of the tired face--the sagging eyes, drawn cheeks, rolling nose, and frowning chin-- before disappearing into the darkness. The painting was exhibited in 1878.
1878, William Merritt Chase, The Wounded Poacher -- Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond)
From the museum label: A man's worn and bristled face emerges from the shadows, an eyebrow raised in daring challenge to the uninvited spectator. Weathered hands cradle a smoker's pipe, yet the clay barrel, glinting with the look of metal and pointed outward in silent threat, suggests a firearm. The allusion to a "smoking gun" is suggested by the painting's original subtitle, Blown to Blazes. The ominous sensibility is amplified by the dramatic chiaroscurism; light descends from the left foreground and bounces off the white head cloth, catching the edge of the sleeve and playing about the topography of the tired face--the sagging eyes, drawn cheeks, rolling nose, and frowning chin-- before disappearing into the darkness. The painting was exhibited in 1878.