Albert Bierstadt

Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902) was born in Germany but came to the USA as an infant, and grew up in Massachusetts. In 1853 he returned to Germany for four years to study art, before coming back to the USA where he joined a government expedition exploring the Rocky Mountains as the artist, completing quick oil sketches which were later worked up into major paintings. Much of his work was later engraved, and his dramatised views were largely responsible for the concept of "America as frontier wilderness". Financially successful, he became a wealthy man with his works in public and private collections throughout the USA and Europe.