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 :. | Pioneers_of_the_Woods | Indian_Camp | Grizzly bears | California Redwoods | A Native of the Woods |
Related Artists:
John Russell
English Painter, 1745-1806,English pastellist, painter, writer and astronomer. His father, also called John Russell (1711-1804), was a bookseller, printseller and amateur artist. Russell was educated at Guildford grammar school and won premiums from the Society of Artists for drawings in 1759 and 1760. He was apprenticed to Francis Cotes and set up his own practice in 1767. In 1770 he entered the Royal Academy Schools, London, winning the silver medal for figure drawing. He exhibited at the Society of Artists in 1768 and annually at the Royal Academy from 1769 to 1806. He was elected ARA in 1772 and RA in 1788, when he became Crayon Painter to King George III and to George, Prince of Wales. He painted some rather stilted portraits in oil
Gustaf Cederstrom
Swedish Painter, 1845-1933,was a Swedish painter, most known for his painting Karl XII:s likfärd (The funeral transport of Charles XII). He was born and raised in Stockholm. His father was Carl Emanuel Cederström and his mother was Carolina Fredrika Theresia af Ugglas. He married Amalia Katarina Jaeder in 1878
Ary de Vois
was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Ary de Vois was the son of Alewijn de Vois from Utrecht, who was organist in the Pieterskerk, Leiden, in 1635. Ary became a pupil in Utrecht of Nikolaus Knepfer, who also taught Jan Steen. Ary then returned to Leiden to study with Abraham van den Tempel, who lived there between 1648 and 1660. De Vois joined the Leiden Guild of St Luke on 16 October 1653, paying dues until 1677. He was dean in 1662-64, headman in 1664-65 and dean again from 1667-68. He married Maria van der Vecht, on 5 February 1656. According to Houbraken his marriage caused a lull in his production, especially when he moved to Warmond where he took up fishing as a hobby. He had to move back to Leiden in order to keep his production levels high