AN ICONIC COLLEGE VIEW: "WILLIAMS COLLEGE" RUMMELL, RICHARD (1848-1924) A great school that impossible to get to from anywhere else. Their graduates run many of the great American Museums.

Williams College

Richard Rummell

Restrike engraving from the original plate (c.1913)

Printed on heavy woven paper and hand colored

Plate Size: 17 x 29 ¼ 

Price: $600.00

At the turn of the century, the accomplished landscape artist Richard Rummell (1848-1924) painted a panoramic bird’s-eye view watercolor of Williams College. In this selection of paintings of American colleges and universities, Rummell selected the twenty best colleges in the nation at the time of painting. His inclusion of these universities in his oeuvre indicates his immense respect for these institutions. From this watercolor, a copper-plate was engraved and a limited number of pulls (engravings) were distributed. Today, Arader Galleries owns the collection of copper plates used for engraving and watercolors. Using the original process and 100 year old original plates, Arader is proudly re-striking and making the beautiful college view available for acquisition the same way it was 100 years ago.

Williams College was founded in 1793 by Colonel Ephrahim Williams Jr. In his will, he bequeathed his estate to form a free school in the West Township, where Colonel Williams once commanded troops in Fort Massachusetts. Thirty-six years after his death in 1755, the first pupils were admitted to the free school in 1791. Within a year of operation, the ambitious trustees sought to turn this modest school into a college, where pupils from across the nation could be educated in literature. The small, but beloved, college became an early example of the traditional New England Liberal Arts College, with its scenic locale, devoted alumni, and basis in a classical curriculum accompanied by a moral atmosphere steeped in propriety. A noteworthy pupil of the college is James A. Garfield, the twentieth President of the United States. 

The view looks along spring street through the college to the scenic Berkshire hills, whose verdant glory is on full display through the expert coloring of the view. The Thompson Memorial Chapel, along with Griffin Hall, are visible in the right foreground of the view. To the left, Currier Hall and Fitch House can be seen. 

To order a college view, please email loricohen@aradergalleries.com or call 215-796-0358 (mobile) or 215-735-8811 (landline).