Milford, Virginia

Architect Arnold William Brunner's pen sketch captures a rural Virginia landscape dominated by a church steeple. The drawing employs quick, economical linework to suggest trees, vegetation, and architectural detail—a technique common to architectural studies of the period. Brunner, a prominent American architect known for synagogue and institutional design, used such sketches to record regional vernacular building types and their settings. This study demonstrates the observational drawing practices that informed late-nineteenth-century architectural documentation and design thinking.