In 1879 William Unger, a Vienna-based artist, etched this reproduction of William Merritt Chase’s 1876 portrait of friend and fellow painter Frank Duveneck, titled <I>The Smoker</I>. Duveneck is wearing a Dutch-style hat and smoking a long Dutch clay pipe as he holds a portrait print after Frans Hals. Unger etched many prints after Hals and other old masters as well as after contemporary artists like Chase. His etchings were published widely in both Europe and the United States. Some appeared loose in portfolios so that they could be framed or set up on an easel for study.
Frank Duveneck (1848–1919), son of German immigrants, began his art studies in the United States. Dissatisfied with the experience, he went to Munich in 1870 to attend classes at the Bavarian Royal Academy, where he met William Merritt Chase in 1872. He and Chase became close friends and Chase made several portraits of Duveneck during their years in Munich.
