The Wissahickon

Painting

-

Drexel Founding Collection

Name/Title

The Wissahickon

Entry/Object ID

100.1

Acquisition

Source (if not Accessioned)

Ora Carita Loud, MD

Notes

Date: 1947 Credit Line: Part of Loud Donation Source: George Whitney Collection; George Whitney commissioned William Trost Richards

Made/Created

Artist

William Trost Richards

Date made

1872

Place

Country

United States

Continent

North America

Dimensions

Height

40 in

Width

54 in

Dimension Notes

Framed

Height

58 in

Width

70 in

Dimension Notes

Unframed

Interpretative Labels

Label Type

Exhibition Label

Label

Like Thomas Moran, William Trost Richards found many of his landscape subjects less than five miles north of center city Philadelphia, along the scenic Wissahickon, a popular picnicking site since the 18th century. Paintings such as this pastoral view, which Richards had been making variations on since the 1850s, likely persuaded Philadelphia’s civic leaders to preserve and protect the creek landscape by incorporating it into the city’s new Fairmount Park system.