Size:  27 x 1905. Medium:  oil on canvas
Signature:  lower left. Scene:  coastal scene

William Trost Richards was one of the most accomplished American artists of the nineteenth century and enjoyed a long and successful career in both oils and watercolors. As Richards scholar Dr. Linda Ferber states, “For Richards, watercolor was not a secondary interest, but a medium whose expressive possibilities were as important as those of oil.”[1] Born in Philadelphia in 1833, he began to study landscape painting under German artist Paul Weber in 1850. Richards continued to paint, travel, and exhibit up until the end of his life. He exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1873 and was awarded prizes from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, also in Philadelphia. His paintings convey a unique peace and serenity and are collected by every major institution of American art.