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Woodland Boulders

William Trost Richards

American Art

Richards’s artistic vision encompassed both broad panoramic landscapes and close-up nature studies. This masterful watercolor, an example of the latter, resembles Asher B. Durand’s intimate forest interiors that focus on moss-covered boulders thrust into the foreground of the composition. Like Durand, Richards was devoted to direct observation of geological and botanical details and the belief that God’s presence existed everywhere in nature, even in humble rocks.
MEDIUM Transparent and opaque watercolors over graphite on gray/green, moderately thick, smooth textured wove paper
DATES ca. 1877–1878
DIMENSIONS Sheet: 10 1/16 x 14 7/16 in. (25.6 x 36.7 cm)  (show scale)
INSCRIPTIONS There is an illegible word written in pencil at top left.
COLLECTIONS American Art
ACCESSION NUMBER 53.228
CREDIT LINE Bequest of Mrs. William T. Brewster through the National Academy of Design
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION William Trost Richards (American, 1833–1905). Woodland Boulders, ca. 1877–1878. Transparent and opaque watercolors over graphite on gray/green, moderately thick, smooth textured wove paper, Sheet: 10 1/16 x 14 7/16 in. (25.6 x 36.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of Mrs. William T. Brewster through the National Academy of Design, 53.228 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 53.228_PS1.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 53.228_PS1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2006
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