German-born American Hudson River School Painter, 1830-1902 Bierstadt was born in Solingen, Germany. His family moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1833. He studied painting with the members of the D??sseldorf School in D??sseldorf, Germany from 1853 to 1857. He taught drawing and painting briefly before devoting himself to painting. Bierstadt began making paintings in New England and upstate New York. In 1859, he traveled westward in the company of a Land Surveyor for the U.S. government, returning with sketches that would result in numerous finished paintings. In 1863 he returned west again, in the company of the author Fitz Hugh Ludlow, whose wife he would later marry. He continued to visit the American West throughout his career. Though his paintings sold for princely sums, Bierstadt was not held in particularly high esteem by critics of his day. His use of uncommonly large canvases was thought to be an egotistical indulgence, as his paintings would invariably dwarf those of his contemporaries when they were displayed together. The romanticism evident in his choices of subject and in his use of light was felt to be excessive by contemporary critics. His paintings emphasized atmospheric elements like fog, clouds and mist to accentuate and complement the feel of his work. Bierstadt sometimes changed details of the landscape to inspire awe. The colors he used are also not always true. He painted what he believed is the way things should be: water is ultramarine, vegetation is lush and green, etc. The shift from foreground to background was very dramatic and there was almost no middle distance Nonetheless, his paintings remain popular. He was a prolific artist, having completed over 500 (possibly as many as 4000) paintings during his lifetime, most of which have survived. Many are scattered through museums around the United States. Prints are available commercially for many. Original paintings themselves do occasionally come up for sale, at ever increasing prices.  Related Paintings of Albert Bierstadt :. | Mariposa Indian Encampment, Yosemite Valley, California | Cathedral Rocks, A Yosemite View | The Golden Gate | The Sierras near Lake Tahoe, California | Among the Sierra Nevada,California |
Related Artists:
Adriaan de Lelie
was born at Tilburg in 1755, and was a scholar of Peeters, a painter of tapestries and ornaments, and afterwards of Quertenmont at Antwerp. He made copies of many of the portraits by Rubens and Van Dyck at Desseldorf, and also of historical pictures by Italian and Dutch masters. By the advice of Professor Camper, he established himself at Amsterdam, where he painted a great number of portraits and cabinet pictures; among the latter is one of the celebrated amateur Jan Gildemeester showing his collection to a party of ladies and gentlemen, in which the principal pictures are readily recognised. One of his best works is that representing the 'Drawing Academy' of the Felix Meritis Society at Amsterdam. His pictures are highly esteemed in Holland and Germany, where they are to be met with in the best collections. He died at Amsterdam in 1820.
Isaac Levitan
Russia.1844-1927
Wyatt Eaton
(May 6, 1849 - June 7, 1896) was an Canadian/American portrait and figure painter, remembered as one of the founders of the Society of American Artists. Born in Philipsburg, Quebec, Lower Canada, Eaton was a student of the National Academy of Design, New York. In 1872, he moved to Paris and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts under Jean-Leon Gerôme. During this time, he made the acquaintance of Jean-François Millet at Barbizon, and was also influenced by his friend Jules Bastien-Lepage. After his return to the United States in 1877, he became a teacher in the Cooper Institute, and opened a studio in New York City. He became one of the founders of the Society of American Artists, in which he was the first secretary. Eaton died from tuberculosis at Newport, Rhode Island on June 7, 1896.