Albert Bierstadt

Bierstadt was born in Solingen, Germany January 7, 1830, and immigrated to the United States with his parents as a young child. He went to Düsseldorf in 1853 and studied with painters Whittredge Worthington and Emmanuel Leutze. Upon his return in 1857, he began to exhibit landscape paintings. In 1859, he received permission from the US government to travel through the Rocky Mountains, and began painting the large-scale Western landscapes for which he is best known. He would return to the American West several times later in his life. He died in New York City on February 18, 1902.