Portrait of Sylvester S. Marvin, c. 1905
Oil on canvas William Merritt Chase, American, 1849–1916 Gift of Leslie and Kathryn Grammer

Signed, lower left: WM M. Chase

48 1/2 x 34 in. (2016-009)

When American artist William Merritt Chase painted this portrait around 1905, Sylvester S. Marvin (1841–1924)—one of the founders of the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco)—was perhaps the biggest name in the bakery business. Raised in upstate New York, he was apprenticed at age 12 to his father’s cousin who sold agricultural implements. He began his career in New York City at the Marvin Safe Company and later worked as a collector for a riverboat in Missouri before serving in the Civil War. The year after leaving service in 1863, he began what would become an enormously successful cracker business. He was so innovative that he became known as the “Edison of Manufacturing.” By the 1880s, his biscuit company was the largest in the United States and the chief company of several to form Nabisco in 1898. Chase, though well known for his work as an American Impressionist, was a highly sought-after portrait painter for the social elite. He studied in Munich, and his large-scale portraits reflect that somber palette. Chase was also one of the most respected art teachers of his day. His students included Georgia O’Keefe and Edward Hopper.