Between 1850 and 1855, he studied part-time with the German artist Paul Weber, while working as designer and illustrator of ornamental metalwork.

In the 1870s, he produced many acclaimed watercolor views of the White Mountains, several of which are now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Richards exhibited at the National Academy of Design from 1861 to 1899,[4] and at the Brooklyn Art Association from 1863 to 1885.

In 1881, he built a house in Jamestown, Rhode Island, where he lived and worked for the remainder of his life.

[1] Richards rejected the romanticized and stylized approach of other Hudson River painters and instead insisted on meticulous factual renderings.