The subject of the portrait, William Merritt Chase, was an American painter, known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a leading New York art teacher. The postnomial N. A. indicates his election to New York's National Academy of Design. The painting was commissioned by a group of his pupils, who subsequently raised the money to pay Sargent by exhibiting the work.
The work is now on view in The Metropolitan Museum's Gallery 774.
