ALBERT BIERSTADT (AMERICAN, 1803-1902)

Untitled Western Landscape

 Oil on canvas, laid on board

Signed lower right: ABierstadt

Canvas size: 11 3⁄4 x 19 3/4” / Framed size: 21 1⁄2 x 29 1/2”

Albert Bierstadt is best known today for his panoramic views of

majestic mountains and cascading waterfalls in the American West. In the second half of the 19th century, his paintings awed and inspired Eastern audiences. The German-born Bierstadt’s first exposure to the West came in 1859 when he joined an expedition led by Colonel Frederick W. Lander on the Overland Trail. The trip, which took him through Kansas and Nebraska territories and as far West as the Rocky Mountains, led Bierstadt to his life’s work.

Bierstadt was born on January 7, 1830, in Solingen, Germany (near

Düsseldorf) and raised in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The

circumstances of his early training are unknown, but by the age of

twenty he was exhibiting paintings in New Bedford and Boston. At

the age of twenty-three he embarked for Düsseldorf to study at its

famous academy. 

This work is included in the upcoming Albert Bierstadt catalogue raisonne.