Seascape with an Approaching Storm (from Sketchbook VII)
Medium
Black ink, 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
1992.2.1gg
Tags
Art Historical Context
William Trost Richards' *Seascape with an Approaching*, from Sketchbook VII (1886), is a captivating preparatory drawing that distills the drama of nature's fury into a modest 5 x 7½ inch sheet of off-white wove paper Rendered in black ink and graphite, depicts turbulent waves and a brooding sky, evoking the sublime power of the sea just before a storm breaks. As part of Richards' extensive sketchbooks, this intimate work reveals his on-the-spot observation of coastal scenes, a hallmark of his lifelong passion for marine subjects. Richards, a prominent American artist of the late 19th century...
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...