In the Mountains (from Sketchbook X)

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 study, allowing Richards to record fleeting light and texture with graphite's versatile lines—soft shading for misty valleys, sharp strokes for rocky crags. As a Hudson River School artist, Richards emphasized America's sublime wilderness during a time of rapid industrialization, preserving its majesty on paper. Acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1992 through gifts honoring Stephen D. Rubin, it resides in The American Wing, highlighting 19th-century American artistic traditions. This sketch invites us to appreciate the artist's process: from quick notations in sketchbooks to monumental canvases, bridging observation and imagination in an era when nature was both muse and moral emblem.

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...