Rushes, Easton’s Pond, Newport, Rhode Island

William Trost Richards spent the summer of 1874 in a cottage at Newport, Rhode Island, near Easton Pond on Newport’s south shore with his family, and was captivated by the scenery. By 1875, the artist had purchased a house there and would spend successive summers exploring the coastal landscape. In 1876, for example, he wrote to his major patron and confidant George Whitney, "Have got some noble subjects from Lilly pond and its neighborhood and think that in a year or two I can become so familiar with this very unusual Landscape as to make others understand its spirit."




Richards painted a series of miniature watercolors of the Newport region, including many of Easton Pond at different times of day, under myriad lights and skies. Rushes, Easton’s Pond, Newport, which measures 3 ¼ x 5 inches, is one from this series and is inscribed by the artist on the verso: Rushes Easton’s Pond / Newport – W.T.R. (collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts) and was one of a large group (approximately 184) of miniature watercolors given by the artist as tokens of friendship to George Whitney. This freshly rendered watercolor sketch that has flashes of Chinese white to highlight the rushes at the edge of Easton Pond served as a study for the larger opaque watercolor in the Wigmore collection that was executed in the same year. The large version is more luminous, and has a bright dense palette of opaque watercolor that captures Easton Pond in full daylight, with sun illuminating the tall rushes that surround the pond, and a lush green meadow and blue sky in the background.