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 :. | Mount Adams, Washington | Seal Rock, California | The Oregon Trail | Palm Tree, Nassau by Albert Bierstadt | Splendour of the Grand Tetons |
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1805-1881
TURCHI, Alessandro
Italian Baroque Era Painter, 1578-1649 Italian painter. He first studied in Verona with Felice Brusasorci in whose studio he was recorded in 1597 (Brenzoni). Dal Pozzo reported that Turchi completed Brusasorci's Fall of the Manna (Verona, S Giorgio) after his master's death in 1605; his early Veronese paintings, such as the Adoration of the Shepherds (1608; Verona, S Fermo), are ambitious, with many figures and elaborate backgrounds, echoing the local tradition of which Paolo Veronese was the most distinguished exponent. Turchi may have gone to Venice with his fellow pupil, Marcantonio Bassetti, before moving to Rome c. 1614-15. He was paid for work in the Sala Regia of the Palazzo del Quirinale in 1616-17 (Briganti), where he collaborated with a team of artists, among them Giovanni Lanfranco and Carlo Saraceni. His part was to paint an oval medallion with the Gathering of the Manna (in situ) in a style that suggests Lanfranco's influence. He soon found patrons for altarpieces and cabinet paintings, among them Cardinal Scipione Borghese. By 1619 he had settled permanently in Rome and was a member of the Accademia di S Luca,
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