Lot 277: Thomas Addison Richards (American/Georgia,

Thomas Addison Richards (American/Georgia, 1820-1900), "Penfield, Greene County, Georgia", oil on canvas, signed lower left, with a label en verso, 25 1/4 in. x 37 in., in a giltwood frame. Note: In 1853 T. Addison Richards lamented that "little has been said, either in picture or story, of the natural scenery of the South." Born in England, his family immigrated to America in 1831, moving first to New York and then to Charleston, SC. Around 1837, they settled in the small town of Penfield, GA. Richards was an early advocate of the Southern landscape and through his paintings, illustrated magazine articles and guidebooks, he introduced the natural beauty and distinct characteristics of this region to a national audience. He left Georgia in 1841 to travel around the South and paint and draw the landscape. The following year, Addison and his brother, William Cary Richards, published Georgia Illustrated in Penfield, GA, which featured eleven steel engravings after Addison's paintings. In late 1 844, Richards settled permanently in NYC, where he enrolled at the National Academy of Design and subsequently became a full academician. He regularly exhibited his Southern landscapes in New York's most prestigious art shows and quickly established his reputation as a painter. Reference: Pennington, E.C., A Southern Collection, Augusta, GA: The Morris Museum of Art, 1992 www.georgiaencyclopedia.org.