Object number1883.2.1
Mythical England, Stonehenge
Portfolio/SeriesFirst from the series History of England
Date1882
Artist
William Trost Richards
(American, 1833-1905)
CultureAmerican
MediumWatercolor with graphite and scratching on cream wove paper
DimensionsSheet: 10 1/4 x 16 1/8 in. (26 x 41 cm)
Mount: 14 9/16 x 20 1/2 in. (37 x 52 cm)
Mount: 14 9/16 x 20 1/2 in. (37 x 52 cm)
Credit LineGift of Elias Lyman Magoon
On View
Not on viewPeriod19th c
Classification(s)
SignedOn recto, signed lower right corner in watercolor: W.T.Richards
InscribedOn recto, by artist, lower right corner in watercolor: 1882
BibliographyFoshay, Ella M., and Sally Mills. All Seasons and Every Light: Nineteenth Century American Landscapes from the Collection of Elias Lyman Magoon. Poughkeepsie, N.Y: Vassar College Art Gallery, 1983, p. 82;
Humanizing landscapes: Geography, Culture and the Magoon Collection. (2000). Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, 2000, cat. no. 49, p. IVProvenanceCommissioned by Dr. E. L. Magoon and presented to Vassar CollegeExhibition HistoryAll Seasons and Every Light, Vassar College Art Gallery, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, October 14 - December 16, 1983; DeCordova and Dana Museum and Park, Lincoln, MA, February 5 - March 25, 1984; Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL, March 25 - July 1, 1984; Mary and Leigh Block Gallery, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, November 16, 1984 - January 13, 1985;
The Humanizing Landscapes: Geography, Culture and the Magoon Collection, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, October 5 - December 20, 2000
Label TextIn 1882, the American painter William Trost Richards completed a series of seven watercolors featuring notable English landmarks, each representing a distinct historical or allegorical theme. Richards had toured and sketched these sites during his travels in Britain from 1878 to 1880. Vassar trustee Elias Magoon, a dedicated collector of Richards’ work, commissioned these paintings and later donated them to the college. For Mythical England (the first work in this series) the artist chose to feature Stonehenge, setting the ancient monument against a verdant field, accompanied by flocks of sheep. Writing to an art collector, Richards noted his ambivalent reaction to the site: “Stonehenge is more interesting than I thought it would be [...] It has that pathetic look peculiar to all human work which has reverted to Nature. Architectural enough to be a ruin, and as rude and moss covered as though ages ago it had been left by some glacier.”
DescriptionA depiction of Stonehenge at dawn as the sunrises along the horizon between the rock pillars. In the left foreground are a group of sheep tended by their shepherd in the distance. The work is rendered in great detail with subtle but vibrant colors.
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