Seascape (from Sketchbook VII)
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
1992.2.1ll
Tags
Art Historical Context
William Trost Richards, a prominent 19th-century American artist associated with the Hudson River School, captured the dynamic beauty of the sea in intimate *Seascape (from Sketchbook VII)*, 1886. Rendered in graphite on off-white wove, the modest 5 x 7 1/2-inch sheet reveals Richards' meticulous eye for nature's fleeting moments—likely waves crashing against rocky shores or vast horizons, hallmarks of his marine studies. As part of a personal sketchbook series, it showcases his preparatory process, blending precision with poetic observation. Richards, influenced by John Ruskin’s emphasis on ...
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...