Sketchbook of Landscape and Animal Subjects
1860–64
Medium
Drawings in graphite, ink (?) washes, gouache, and sgraffito on green, tan, and buff-colored wove paper, bound in a cloth cover
Dimensions
Cover: 9 3/4 x 14 1/8 in. (24.8 x 35.9 cm) Sheets: 9 3/4 x 14 in. (24.8 x 35.6 cm)
Classification
Sketchbook
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Sheila and Richard J. Schwartz Fund and Gifts in memory of Stephen D. Rubin, 1992
Accession Number
1992.373
Tags
Art Historical Context
Thomas Hewes Hinckley’s “Sketchbook of Landscape and Animal Subjects” offers a fascinating glimpse into the working methods of a 19th-century American artist. Created between 1860 and 1864, this bound volume contains numerous studies of deer and other wildlife alongside landscape elements. The variety of papers—green, tan, and buff—along with the use of graphite, ink washes, gouache, and the unusual sgraffito technique, reveals Hinckley’s careful observation of nature and his willingness to experiment with different effects of light, texture, and form. As a portable studio, the sketchbook wou...
About the Artist
Thomas Hewes Hinckley · 1813–1896
Thomas Hewes Hinckley (1813–1896) was an American painter who became one of the leading specialists in animal painting in the United States during the mid-nineteenth century. Born in Milton, Massachusetts, he was largely self-taught in his early years, developing his skills through sustained observation of animals in the field and study of European masters whose work he encountered in reproduction...