On top of our European woes we have had website woes, the latter is now fixed, let’s hope the former will be as well! This is WM Chase A Friendly Call 1895, it’s at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, details here: ‘The setting for the painting is William Merritt Chase’s own studio at his summer home near Shinnecock, Long Island. A new vogue for Oriental aesthetics accounts for the bamboo chair, reed floor mats, and silk wall hangings. Such elegance transforms a functional workroom into a private exhibition gallery. The painter’s wife, Alice Gerson Chase, greets an unidentified caller. According to the rigid social etiquette of the 1890s, the hostess has not yet asked—or may never permit—her guest to relax, put down her parasol, and remove her gloves, hat, and veil.’