Study of Landscape, Norway

William Trost Richards, American landscape painter (1833–1905), executed this watercolor study during travels through Scandinavia. The work demonstrates the artist's characteristic approach to mountain scenery: a valley vista with modest farm buildings in the middle distance, framed by dramatic peaks and rendered in cool atmospheric tones. Richards' technique—precise brushwork combined with loose watercolor washes—captures light effects across distant slopes. A leading figure in nineteenth-century American landscape art, Richards brought geological accuracy and romantic sensibility to scenes of European and American wilderness, influencing how viewers understood and valued natural scenery.