Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Bierstadt, Albert

BIERSTADT, ALBERT, an American painter, born near Düsseldorf, Germany, Jan. 7, 1830; removed with his parents to Salem, Mass., in 1831; began to paint in oils in 1851; and in 1853 returned to Düsseldorf to study his art, spending a winter in Rome, traveling in Italy and Switzerland, and returning to the United States in 1857. In 1859 he accompanied General Lander's expedition to the Rocky Mountains, and studied mountain scenery. He was elected a member of the National Academy in 1860. In 1861 he finished his painting, “Laramie Peak,” and in 1863 “View of the Rocky Mountains—Lander's Peak.” These at once gave him a high reputation. He received medals in Austria, Bavaria, Belgium, and Germany, and French, Russian and Turkish orders. Among his best known paintings are “North Fork of the Platte” (1864); “Looking Down the Yosemite” (1865); “Storm on Mt. Rosalie” (1866); “Settlement of California,” and “Discovery of the Hudson River,” both in the Capitol at Washington; “In the Rocky Mountains” (1871); “Great Trees of California” (1874); “Estes Park, Colorado” (1878); “Storm on the Matterhorn” (1884); “Valley of Zermatt, Switzerland” (1885); “California Oaks” (1886). He died Feb. 18, 1902.