Background
William Trost Richards was born on November 14, 1833 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
William Trost Richards was born on November 14, 1833 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
In 1846 and 1847 he attended the local Central High School. Between 1850 and 1855 he studied part-time with the German artist Paul Weber while working as designer and illustrator of ornamental metalwork.
Richards first public exhibit was part of an exhibition in New Bedford, Massachusetts, organized by artist Albert Bierstadt in 1858.
In 1866, he departed for Europe for one year. Upon his return and for the following six years he spent the summers on the East Coast.
In the 1870s, he produced many acclaimed watercolor views of the White Mountains, several of which are now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Richards exhibited at the National Academy of Design from 1861 to 1899, and at the Brooklyn Art Association from 1863 to 1885.
Richard rejected the romanticized and stylized approach of other Hudson River painters and instead insisted on meticulous factual renderings. His views of the White Mountains are almost photographic in their realism. In later years, Richards painted almost exclusively marine watercolors.
He was a member of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and of the American Water Colour Society. He was elected a full member of the National Academy in 1871.
His daughter Anna M. Richards, figure and landscape painter, was a pupil of John La Farge and Benjamin Constant.