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 :. | Lower Yosemite Valley | Sunset over the River | Island of New Providence | Elk Grazing in the Wind River Country | Albert Bierstadt's art |
Related Artists:
Peale, James
American, 1749-1831 Painter, brother of Charles Willson Peale. Charles encouraged him to become a painter; James also worked as a frame-maker for his brother until the Revolution, in which he served as a lieutenant. From 1779 James shared Charles's practice, specializing in miniatures. His early work, occasionally confused with Charles's, shows his brother's influence. After 1794, his style became clearly his own: more delicate with subtle colour harmonies, softened outlines and free handling; it may be distinguished by a faint violet tone in the shadows and the inconspicuous signature 'IP'. His miniatures of male subjects are frequently superior to his portraits of women, for example Benjamin Harwood (1799; Baltimore, Mus. & Lib. MD Hist.), but his meticulous attention to costume and his success in imparting colour and sparkle to skin and eyes,
Worth Brehm
American, 1883-1928
Eugne Joseph Verboeckhoven
(1790-1881), Belgian painter, was born at Warneton in West Flanders, and received instruction in drawing and modelling from his father, the sculptor Barthelemy Verboeckhoven. Subsequently he settled in Brussels and devoted himself almost exclusively to animal subjects. Shepherd with animals in the countryside attributed to Eugene Verboeckhoven - private collectionHis paintings of sheep, of horses and of cattle in landscape, somewhat after the manner of Paulus Potter, brought him universal fame, and were eagerly sought for by collectors. Precise and careful finish is the chief quality of his art, which is entirely objective and lacking in inspiration. Verboeckhoven visited England in 1826, Germany in 1828, and France and Italy in 1841, and died at Brussels in 1881. He was a member of the academies of Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp, St. Petersburg and Amsterdam. Examples of his art are to be found in nearly all the important galleries of Europe and the United States, notably in Brussels, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, New York, Boston and Washington D.C.. His long life and ceaseless industry account for the enormous number of his pictures in public and private collections and in the art market. In addition to his painted work he executed some fifty etched plates of similar subjects.