Landscape, William Trost Richards

Graphite on paper, roughly 9 x 6 inches (21 x 16 cm). In the collection of the National Gallery of Art, DC. There is both a zoomable and downloadable version available from their site.

This remarkable drawing from 1862 was likely a study for Richards’ 1863 painting, October.

Both were done while Richards was in a phase in his career when he was inspired by the extraordinarily detailed and true to nature work of the British Pre-Raphaeilte painters.

I find it interesting in particular to compare the October painting and this drawing to Sir John Everett Millais’ painting of Ophelia, and the mezzotint after that by James Stephenson.