Paschall Homestead at Gibson's Point, Philadelphia

Born and raised in Philadelphia, William Trost Richards studied at the Academy and was awarded the honor of Academician in 1860. A significant American landscape artist, Richards was associated with the American Pre-Raphaelite movement. Rejecting the romanticized approach of his contemporary Hudson River painters, Richards instead preferred to render his subjects with meticulous realism. Upon arriving at Gibson’s Point, Richards was said to have stood transfixed and exclaimed, “I can never paint it, I can never paint it, but I’ll do the best I can!” The painting, commissioned by Robert S. Paschall, commemorates the homestead of Paschall’s wife where both her parents and her grandparents had lived. The abundance of land, fields, and foliage is suggestive of the extent of the Paschall’s prosperity and are all captured by Richard’s fine and delicate brushstrokes.