Sketchbook
William Emlen Cresson
The Academy has long owned this sketchbook of Cresson’s. It consists of 33 sheets, with about 60 pages covered with sketches. This early work is dated 1862, the year after his studies here, when Cresson was 19 or 20. While some of the sketchbook is filled with anatomy, drapery, and head studies, many scenes reference works of mythology or literature, such as Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and Robinson Crusoe. Some of these studies, enriched with watercolor embellishment, recall his teacher Peter Frederick Rothermel’s watercolors, and appear more like miniature paintings than sketches.
Artist
Date of Birth
(1843-1868)
Date
ca. 1861-1863
Medium
Graphite, pen, brush sketches in sepia, brown and black ink, and watercolor on cream wove paper
Dimensions
9 x 12 in. (22.86 x 30.48 cm.)
Accession #
1981.x.98.1-33
Credit Line
Source unknown
Copyright
No known copyright restrictions
Category
Subject
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