Artwork
Sketch from Nature
Sketch from Nature is a graphite drawing by the Impressionist artist Asher Brown Durand. It dates from 1855 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Overview
Sketch from Nature is a graphite drawing on gray-green paper created by Asher Brown Durand around 1855.
Subject & Meaning
The drawing depicts a single tree trunk rising from the forest floor, capturing the play of sunlight on its form.
Technique & Style
Durand employed sharp pencil lines and careful shading to convey texture and light, utilizing the paper's tone to enhance highlights.
History & Provenance
This work was produced outdoors, with Durand working rapidly in a notebook to record observations that would inform later, larger landscape compositions.
Artist & collection
Artist
Asher Brown Durand spent his life in the rolling hills of New Jersey, where the forests and farmland shaped his quiet, deliberate way of seeing.
