Interior of Woods with Small Stream (from Cropsey Album)
Medium
Graphite on off-white wove paper
Dimensions
5 x 4 3/4 in. (12.7 x 12.1 cm)
Classification
Drawing
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Charles and Anita Blatt Gift, 1970
Accession Number
1970.9.17
Tags
Art Historical Context
Nestled within the intimate pages of the Cropsey Album, William T Richards' *Interior of Woods with Small Stream (1854) offers a delicate glimpse into the American wilderness. This graphite drawing on off-white wove paper, measuring just 5 x 4 3/4 inches, captures a dense forest interior pierced by a meandering stream. Richards, a key figure in Hudson River School, was renowned for his meticulous renderings of nature's sublime details, blending Romantic idealism with precise observation. Created during the mid-19th century—a time when American artists celebrated the nation's untamed landscape...
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...