Two Trees in a Landscape (from Sketchbook VII)
Medium
Graphite on 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
1992.2.1m
Tags
Art Historical Context
William Trost Richards, a prominent American landscape artist of the 19th century, captured the serene beauty of nature in *Two Trees in a Landscape (from Sketchbook VII)*, a delicate graphite drawing from 1886. This intimate study, measuring just 5 x 7 1/2 inches, depicts a pair of trees amid a vast, open landscape, rendered with the artist's characteristic precision. Richards, influenced by the Hudson River School and Pre-Raphaelite ideals, was renowned for his meticulous observations of the natural world, often sketching outdoors to record fleeting light and form. Created on smooth white w...
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...