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 Catskills | Splendour of the Grand Tetons | Wharf Scene with Ship at Dock | The Sierra Nevada in California | Deer and River |
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Albert Gottschalk
(3 July 1866 - 13 February 1906) was a Danish painter. He had a close connection, personally and artisticly, to the poets Johannes Jørgensen, Viggo Stuckenberg and Sophus Claussen. Albert Gottschalk was born in Stege on the island of Møn. but later moved to Copenhagen. He was educated at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1882 to 1883 and under Peder Severin Krøyer at the Artists Studio Schools from hos from 1883 to 1888. He also studied privately with Karl Jensen and Karl Madsen. Gottschalk was inspired by the Danish painter P.S. Krøyer as well as French art. Gottschalk was ambitious, technically skilled, and he worked a long time with his motifs in his mind before painting them. He searched for his motifs in Denmark on his bicycle, and he found them often around Copenhagen. The paintings often look like they are quickly made sketches which was not recognised in Gottschalkes time. But today people find his works fresher and more timeless than art from that time normally is.
Pollaiuolo, Jacopo
Approx. 1441-1496 Painter, brother of Antonio Pollaiuolo. He was described as a painter in the membership records of the Compagnia di S Luca, which he joined in 1472. According to tradition, he initially trained under Andrea del Castagno. In his 1480 tax return Piero reported that he had a small house adjoining the family home '...which I use when I have painting to do'. He produced many paintings for the Florentine workshop,
GIOVANNI DA MODENA
Italian painter, Bolognese school (active 1409-1456 in Bologna)