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 :. | Ein Sturm in den RockY Mountains,Mount Rosalie | Lake in the Rockies | Tyrolean Landscape | The Shore of the Turquoise Sea | Deer at Sunset |
Related Artists:
Bartholomeus van Bassen
(1590 - 1652) was a Dutch Golden Age painter and architect. Van Bassen was born in Antwerp. Little is known of his early life, but according to the RKD he became a member of the Delft Guild of St. Luke in 1613. In 1622 he moved to the Hague, where he became a member of the The Hague Guild of St. Luke two years later and where he became dean in 1627 and headman in 1636 and 1640. He is known for his architectural works, sometimes with staffage by the painters Anthonie Palamedesz, Esaias van de Velde, and Jan Martszen de Jonge.
Juan de Zurbaran
Spanish Baroque Era Painter, 1620-1649
Nikolaj Nikolajewitsch Ge
painted Conscience, Judas in 1891