In the Mountains (from Sketchbook X)
Medium
Graphite on off-white wove paper
Dimensions
5 x 7 1/2 in. (12.7 x 19.1 cm)
Classification
Drawing
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Gifts in memory of Stephen D. Rubin, 1992
Accession Number
1992.2.2oo recto
Tags
Art Historical Context
William Trost Richards, a leading figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painting, created *In the Mountains* in1885 as part of his meticulous Sketchbook X. This intimate graphite drawing on off-white wove paper5 x 7 1/2 in.) the rugged beauty of mountainous terrain, reflecting Richards' lifelong passion for nature's grandeur. Born in 1833, he was renowned for his precise, almost Pre-Raphaelite attention to detail, often sketching en plein air to inform his larger oil paintings of dramatic seascapes and peaks. The modest scale and portable medium suggest this was a field stud...
About the Artist
William Trost Richards · 1833–1905
William Trost Richards (1833–1905) was a prominent American landscape and marine painter born in Philadelphia, where he attended Central High School before beginning his artistic training. Between 1850 and 1855, he studied part-time under the German-born Hudson River School artist Paul Weber while working as a designer and illustrator of ornamental metalwork. He exhibited his first works at the Pe...