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 :. | The Landing of Columbus | Passing Storm over the Sierra Nevada | Yosemite Falls | Westfallische Landschaft | Oregon Trail, |
Related Artists:
Lefebvre, Jules Joseph
French, 1834-1912
Abraham van Strij
painted Een kersenverkoopster aan de deur in 1816
Eero Jarnefelt
(8 November 1863 - 15 November 1937) was a Finnish realist painter. Eero Järnefelt was born in Viipuri, Finland. His father August Aleksander Järnefelt was an officer in the Russian army and his mother was Elisabeth Järnefelt. He studied at the St. Petersburg art academy between 1883 and 1885, the same school at which Albert Edelfelt had studied. Eero Järnefelt's sister Aino Järnefelt married composer Jean Sibelius in 1892, Eero Järnefelt's sisters and brothers were Kasper, Arvid, Aino Ellida, Ellen, Armas, Hilja and Sigrid. He went to study in Paris in 1886, where he became friends with Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Emil Wikström and Louis Sparre. He was inspired by the plein-air and naturalistic paintings of Jules Bastien-Lepage On a trip to Keuruu in 1889, he met actress Saimi Swan. They were married in 1890. His most famous painting is probably The Wage Slaves (Raatajat rahanalaiset or Kaski, from 1893, External link), depicting slash-and-burn agriculture.