Willard LeRoy Metcalf

Metcalf used a limited tonal range, small broken brushstrokes, and flattened Japanese perspective to create this quiet view of snow falling on a Cornish, New Hampshire, landscape. Each element, including the softly gilded frame designed by Charles Dudley Murphy, contributes to the unified presentation of his subject.

Metcalf trained at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and then in Paris, where he studied the methods of French Impressionist painters. He shared these interests with a group of American painters known as The Ten, who organized annual group exhibitions that took into consideration the choice of wall colors and the compatibility of frames.