A Rocky Coast
In their effort to elevate the status of watercolor in the U.S., some members of the American Watercolor Society produced works on the scale of exhibition oil paintings, and even worked heavily in gouache or body color, to lend the medium some of the richness of effect of oil. Richards joined this trend around 1876, and embellished on it by working on a dark, heavy, fibrous paper—used to line carpets—that approximated both the textural qualities of canvas and the conventional half-tone gray or brown grounds on which painters traditionally applied their colors. Richards found that his carpet paper "drawings," as he called them, were "very popular." The great Metropolitan Museum benefactor Catharine Lorillard Wolfe purchased this one at his Newport studio in 1877.
Artwork Details
- Title: A Rocky Coast
- Artist: William Trost Richards (American, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1833–1905 Newport, Rhode Island)
- Date: 1877
- Culture: American
- Medium: Watercolor and gouache on fibrous brown wove paper
- Dimensions: 28 1/8 x 36 1/4 in. (71.4 x 92.1 cm)
- Credit Line: Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Collection, Bequest of Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, 1887
- Object Number: 87.15.6
- Curatorial Department: The American Wing
More Artwork
Research Resources
The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.