Landscape
WILLIAM TROST RICHARDS (1833–1905)
Flora, 1859
Oil on arched-top mahogany panel: 7 3/8 x 5 5/16 in.
Signed and dated (at lower right): W. T. Richards 1859
EXHIBITED: McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, September 9–December 8, 2019, William Trost Richards: Hieroglyphs of Landscape, pp. 33, 87 no. 25, illus. in color
EX COLL.: private collection, New York
Probably inspired by the scenery he encountered during a sketching trip to the Cold Spring, New York in June 1859, Flora exemplifies Richards’ move away from panoramic landscape subjects in favor of carefully observed portrayals of humble plants and flowers rendered with an emphasis on botanical accuracy. Notable for its meticulous attention to detail and careful handling of light and shadow––as well as the use of the distinctive arched format that appears in other nature studies from this period, such as the aforementioned Red Clover, Butter-and-Eggs, and Ground Ivy, this intimate and deeply personal vignette brings to mind the words of the critic Henry T. Tuckerman who, in reference to such paintings, exclaimed:
So carefully finished in some of them are the leaves, grasses, grain-stalks, weeds, stones, and flowers, that we seem not to be looking at a distant prospect, but lying on the ground with herbage and blossom directly under our eyes (Henry T. Tuckerman, Book of the Artists. American Artist Life [New York: G. P. Putnam, 1867], p. 524).