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 Sierras near Lake Tahoe, California | Sea and Sky | Day-s_Beginning | Beach Scene | Deer at Sunset |
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Antoine de Favray
French, 1706-died circa 1791,French painter. He is not documented until 1738, when he was mentioned as a private pupil of Jean-Fran?ois de Troy (ii), who was then director of the Acad?mie de France in Rome; in 1739 he became an official student at the Acad?mie. Among his student works is a copy (untraced) of Raphael's Fire in the Borgo (Rome, Vatican, Stanza dell'Incendio), which was mentioned by Charles de Brosses and exhibited in Paris in 1741. In 1744, for reasons that are not clear, he left Rome for Malta, remaining there for much of the rest of his career and devoting himself primarily to portraiture and genre painting. His ambition as a history painter, however, was fulfilled to a certain extent as a result of the patronage of two Grand Masters of the Order of the Knights of Malta, Manoel Pinto da Fonseca and Emmanuel de Rohan. His first dated picture executed in Malta is a Portrait of a Maltese Lady (1745; Paris, Louvre).
Jan Van Kessel
1626-1679 Dutch Jan Van Kessel Gallery Dutch painter and draughtsman. He was a follower, and probably a pupil, of Jacob van Ruisdael and covered the same range of subjects painted by Ruisdael, with the exception of marine paintings. However, van Kessel is best known for his townscapes and panoramic views, as exemplified by the Sluice and the New City Ramparts of Amsterdam in Winter (Amsterdam, Hist. Mus.) and the Bleaching Grounds near Haarlem (Brussels, Mus. A. Anc.). He imitated the water-mills and village scenes of his friend Meindert Hobbema, as well as the waterfalls of Allaert van Everdingen, the wooded landscapes of Jan Wijnants and the winter scenes of Jan van de Cappelle. Many of van Kessel's 120 surviving pictures, including The Avenue (Stuttgart, Staatsgal.) and the Ford in the Woods (Dresden, Gem?ldegal. Alte Meister), were once attributed to van Ruisdael and these other masters (often with an authentic signature covered by the better-known name). Van Kessel is also frequently confused with other minor artists in van Ruisdael's circle, especially Jan Vermeer van Haarlem the younger, Isaac Koene (1637/40-1713), Jacob Salomonsz. van Ruysdael (1629/30-1681) and Anthonie van Borssom. As a draughtsman, van Kessel emulated van Ruisdael's mature style, working almost exclusively in black chalk and grey wash. The best of his 70 drawings are townscapes, although his studies of trees and depictions of farmsteads are noteworthy. A number of correlations exist between his sketches and paintings. There is no known relationship with the Flemish artists of the same name.
Mulhaupt, Frederick John
American, 1871-1938