Sketchbook, Tonal Sketches of Landscape, Coastal and Marine Subjects in Different Weather Conditions
William Trost Richards
American Art
In the evening Richards filled sketchbooks with pencil drawings of landscapes, coasts, and seas under all effects of light and weather. These monochromatic yet light-filled studies, each image framed with a border, were rendered in subtle tonal modulations and intended as exercises in composition. This page depicts a memory of the ruins of Tintagel on the Cornish coast. Although small in size, these little drawings possess a luminous sense of space and represent as purely subjective and poetic a response to light, space, and the sea as is to be found in Richards’s oeuvre.
MEDIUM
Graphite on paper
DATES
ca. 1890
DIMENSIONS
5 x 7 7/16 in. (12.7 x 18.9 cm)
INSCRIPTIONS
See description
ACCESSION NUMBER
75.15.12
CREDIT LINE
Gift of Edith Ballinger Price
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
Sketchbook with 45 bound pages and 4 loose pages containing tonal coastal scenes in graphite.
p1 yellow page, blank
p2 water with coastal cliffs/mountains.
p3 seascape, with hills and snowcapped mountain in background
p4 turbulant water, coastal hills
p5 turbulant water, coastal mountains
p6 view across water to high coastal mountains, trees in foreground
p7 turbulant water, coastal hills with structure built on cliff
p8 view across water to very high mountains
p9 rocky coast,
p10 rocky coast, turbulant water
p11 coastal cliff with fortress-like building
p12 coastal cliff with fortress-like building; two horsemen in foreground
p13 coastal cliff, castle or fortress on top of cliff
p14 coatal scene, boats moored and loosely sketched town
p15 coastal scene, boats in foreground, castle or fortress atop coastal cliff
p16 coastal cliffs
p17 loosely sketched coastal hills
p18 loosely sketched coastal cliffs
p19 loosely sketched coastal cliffs and turbulant water
p20 coastal cliffs
p21 coastal cliffs, possibly buildings atop cliffs
p22 rocky coastal cliffs
p23 field with trees and a fence
p24 field with trees
p25 coastal scene
p26 coastal cliffs
p27 coastal cliffs, possibly a building atop rocky cliff
p28 coastal cliffs, stormy atmosphere
p29 coastal cliffs with bird flying overhead
p30 coastal cliffs, looking toward sun (study of light effects)
p31 coastal cliffs
p32 scene from beach looking out at waves and coastline to the right
p33 beach scene with forested coastline. Loosely sketched figures on beach?
p34 scene from beach of rocky coastal cliffs, four boats in distance
p35 coastal scene of rocky coastal cliffs, possibly structures atop cliffs
p36 seascape with many sailboats
p37 seascape with many sailboats
p38 coastal cliffs, study of sunbeam hitting rocky surface of cliffs
p39 seascape, single sailboat and wave
p40 loose sketch of rocky hillside and two trees
p41 seascape with boats in distance
p42 rocky coastal cliffs
p43 view from beach of water, and coastline across the way with high mountains
p44 seascape view from beach
p44verso, loosely sketched trees or grasses, almost illegible
p45 yellow page, landscape sketch of trees and grasses in foreground with coast in background. Inscribed at center right, "Blue"
p45verso scribbles, horizon line? Inscribed at left, ""The houseless oceans heavy field" / 7 am. / "Lone [Tintasel?].""
Four loose pages inserted at back of sketchbook:
1. Coastal scene of rocky coastal hills
2. Seascape
3. Rocky coastal cliffs, structure built atop cliff
4. Loose sketch of rocky cliff above sea
Inside back cover: Loose landscape sketch of field/grasses. Inscribed at upper/center left, "Blue"
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and
we welcome any additional information you might have.