Moonlight on Mount Lafayette, New Hampshire (1873)

William Trost Richards, an American landscape painter, gained acclaim for his highly accurate and intricate renderings of the natural world. He was linked to the Hudson River School, a collective of mid-19th-century American artists celebrated for their romantic landscapes, as well as to the American Pre-Raphaelite movement, which placed great value on realism and close observation of nature’s details.

Richards was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on November 14, 1833, and displayed an early passion for art. He attended Philadelphia’s Central High School between 1846 and 1847, where he received his foundational education. Between 1850 and 1855, he studied part-time with the German artist Paul Weber, whose guidance had a lasting influence on Richards’s landscape painting techniques.

At the same time, Richards worked as a designer and illustrator for ornamental metalwork, a job that likely sharpened his sensitivity to texture and form—qualities that would later distinguish his paintings. This broad training fused artistic creativity with technical proficiency, setting him apart from many of his peers.

In 1858, Richards participated in his first public exhibition at a show in New Bedford, Massachusetts, which was organized by artist Albert Bierstadt. In the years that followed, Richards earned widespread recognition for his depictions of marine life and coastal landscapes, faithfully portraying the peaceful charm and radiance of the American countryside and seashore.