National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: Lake Lucerne
  • Overview
  • Inscription
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography

Overview

Best known for his panoramic views of the Rocky Mountains, Albert Bierstadt began his career as a painter of European landscapes. In 1856, during a period of study abroad, he spent time in Switzerland and completed the plein air sketches he would later use to compose Lake Lucerne, the most important painting of his early career.

In the spring of 1858 he sent the painting to New York for the annual exhibition at the National Academy of Design. The picture caused a sensation. Bierstadt was hailed as a bright new star on the American art stage and was elected an honorary member of the Academy.

Bierstadt's painting offers a sweeping view of Lake Lucerne with the village of Brunnen in the middle distance and the alpine peaks Ematten, Oberbauen, Uri–Rotstock and St. Gotthard in the distance. Though an image of mountain grandeur, Lake Lucerne also contains numerous pastoral vignettes—a harvest scene near the center, a religious procession at the right, and a gypsy camp at the left.

One year after completing Lake Lucerne Bierstadt traveled to the Rocky Mountains for the first time. During the decade that followed he produced the western landscapes that brought him his greatest success. These views of the west, so often described as distinctly American, were born of Bierstadt's experience abroad and frequency duplicate the composition of the first of his large–scale landscapes, Lake Lucerne.

Inscription

lower right: ABierstadt. / 1858.

Marks and Labels

null

Provenance

Purchased from the artist by Alvin Adams [1804-1877], Watertown, Massachusetts, by 14 December 1858;[1] his estate; (his estate sale, Leonard & Co., Boston, 16-17 March 1882, 2nd day, no. 109); Hezekiah Conant [1827-1902], Pawtucket, Rhode Island;[2] William Leroy Sunderland [d. 1938], Exeter, Rhode Island, circa 1890;[3] his wife, Pearl Joslin Tarbox Sunderland Rose [d. 1989], Exeter, Rhode Island; (her estate sale, Northern Appraisers, Warwick, Rhode Island, 13 October 1990, no. 43).[4]

[1] On 14 December 1858 the New Bedford Daily Mercury reported "Mr. Bierstadt has disposed of his oil painting of 'Lake Lucerne' to a gentleman in Boston [Alvin Adams], for the sum of $925." Orphaned as a young boy, Adams [1804-1877] later rose to prominence and acquired a substantial fortune as founder and president of the Adams Express Company. In 1860 he built Fairhaven, a lavish home in Watertown, Massachusetts, where he displayed his art collection in a gallery open to the public one day a week.

[2] Alvin Adams died 1877 but his art collection was not sold until 1882. On 18 March 1882 the Boston Globe reported that Lake Lucerne had been purchased at the Adams sale by Mr. H[ezekiah] Conant of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, for $3375. Conant [1827-1902], an inventor and manufacturer, had established the Conant Thread Company in Pawtucket in 1868. For many years the largest employer in the state, he succeeded in forging profitable alliances with European thread manufacturers including J. & P. Coats Company, Ltd., of Paisley, Scotland, which began operating the Conant Thread Company as one of its branches in 1893.

[3] The New York Times (11 June 1990) reported that John D. Lynch, executor of the Rose estate, said he was told by Mrs. Rose that William L. Sunderland, her first husband, had acquired the painting in the 1890s.

[4] Lake Lucerne was purchased at auction by Richard York of Richard York Gallery, New York, acting on behalf of the National Gallery of Art with funds provided by Richard M. Scaife and Margaret R. Battle.

Exhibition History

1858
Boston Athenaeum, c. September - December 1858, no. 327.
1858
New-Bedford Art Exhibition, New Bedford, Massachusetts, 20 July - 7 August 1858, no. 136.
1858
Thirty-Third Annual Exhibition, National Academy of Design, New York, 13 April - 30 June 1858, no. 6.
1860
Boston Athenaeum, 1860, no. 207, and later that year as no. 239.
1861
Boston Athenaeum, 1861, no. 246.
1862
Boston Athenaeum, 1862, no. 260.
1991
Art for the Nation: Gifts in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1991, 148-149, color repro.
1992
Albert Bierstadt: Art & Enterprise, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1991-1992, no. 6.

Bibliography

1858
"A Grand Picture." Home Journal (3 April 1858): 2.
1858
"A Grand Picture." New Bedford Evening Standard (6 April 1858): 2.
1858
"Art Matters." Boston Evening Transcript (1 September 1858): 2.
1858
"Athanaeum Gallery." Boston Post (20 September 1858): 4.
1858
"A World for the Artist." Boston Evening Transcript (11 September 1858): 2.
1858
"Correspondence." Home Journal (12 June 1858): 2.
1858
National Academy of Design: Catalogue of the Thirty-Third Annual Exhibition (13 April-30 June 1858): 17, no. 99.
1858
New Bedford Daily Mercury (14 December 1858): 1.
1858
New Bedford Daily Mercury (23 September 1858): 2.
1858
New Bedford Daily Mercury (5 May 1858): 2.
1858
New York Evening Post (1 May 1858): 1.
1858
"National Academy of Design." Home Journal (8 May 1858): 2-3.
1858
"National Academy of Design." The Albion 35 (24 April 1858): 201.
1858
"Sketchings." The Crayon 5 (May 1858): 147.
1858
"The National Academy of Design." New York Daily Tribune (4 May 1858): 6.
1859
"Sketchings." The Crayon 6 (January 1859): 26.
1860
"The Annual Exhibition" [advertisement]. Boston Evening Transcript (27 March 1860): 3.
1863
Gray, Barry. "Bierstadt the Artist." New York Leader (17 January 1863): 2.
1866
Ladies' Repository 26 (January 1866): 64.
1866
Tuckerman, Henry T. "Albert Bierstadt." Galaxy 1 (15 August 1866): 679.
1867
Tuckerman 1867, 388, 293.
1870
Kohler, Sylvester Rosa. "Albert Bierstadt." Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst (Leipzig) 5:72.
1871
Kohler, Sylvester Rosa. "Albert Bierstadt." Der deutsche Pionier 2 (January/February 1871): 362.
1880
Stahan, Edward (pseud. of Earl Shinn). The Art Treasures of America. 3 vols. Philadelphia, 1880. Reprint, New York, 1977: 93.
1882
Art Interchange 8 (30 March 1882): 79.
1882
Boston Daily Advertiser (18 March 1882): 9.
1882
Boston Evening Transcript (10 March 1882): 1.
1882
Boston Evening Transcript (18 March 1882): 3.
1882
Boston Evening Transcript (9 March 1882): 4.
1882
Boston Globe (18 March 1882): 2.
1882
Boston Herald (18 March 1882): 6.
1882
Boston Morning Journal (18 March 1882): 4.
1882
Boston Post (18 March 1882): 1.
1882
Catalogue of the Collection of Oil Paintings of the Late Alvin Adams to be Sold by Auction on Thursday and Friday March 16, 17. Boston, 1882: 45, no. 109.
1902
Boston Evening Transcript (26 February 1902): 15.
1943
Cowdrey, Mary Bartlett. National Academy of Design Exhibition Record 1826-1860. 2 vols. New York, 1943: 1:32.
1973
Hendricks, Gordon. Albert Bierstadt, Painter of the American West. New York, 1973: 53, 56-58.
1980
Perkins, Robert F., and William J. Gavin III. The Boston Athenaeum Art Exhibition Index, 1827-1874. Boston, 1980: 20.
1990
Collection of Fine Painting, Bronzes and John Rogers' Statuary Works from the Estate of Pearl J. Rose (auction catalogue, Northern Appraisers, Warwick, Rhode Island). Sale of 13 October 1990, no. 43.
1990
"Painting Surfaces after 100 Years." Washington Times (7 June 1990): B6.
1990
Reif, Rita. "A Long-Lost Painting by Bierstadt is Found." New York Times (11 June 1990): C-18.
1991
Aeschlimann, Johann. "Wegen `Lake Lucerne' ist Mister Bierstadt Amerika beruhn." Luzerner Neuste. Lucerne, Switzerland. 2 November 1991.
1991
"Albert Bierstadt: Art & Enterprise." National Gallery of Art Circle Bulletin Number 8 (Fall 1991): 9.
1991
Anderson, Nancy K., and Linda S. Ferber. Albert Bierstadt: Art and Enterprise. Exh. cat. The Brooklyn Museum. Brooklyn, 1990: 26, 41, 61, 65n.13, 106n.76, 113, 123, 124, 130, 131, 135, 143, 174, 246, 250.
1991
Anderson, Nancy. "The European Roots of Albert Bierstadt's Views of the American West." Antiques 139 (January 1991): 220-222, 229, 232.
1991
Brenson, Michael. "National Gallery Puts its Gifts on Display." New York Times (18 March 1991): C-11.
1991
Collins, Glenn. "Tracking Bierstadts: The Making of a Show." New York Times (6 February 1991): C-11, 13.
1991
Ferber, Linda. "Anatomy of an Exhibition." Barnard Alumnae Magazine 81 (Fall 1991): 16.
1991
Forgey, Benjamin. "Masterpiece Theatre." The Washington Post Magazine (17 March 1991): 30-31.
1991
Gingold, Diane J. and Elizabeth A.C. Weil. The Corporate Patron. New York, 1991: 157, color repro.
1991
Heffner, Stephen. "National Gallery of Art to Exhibit Masterpiece Rediscovered in Rhode Island." Providence Evening Bulletin (8 February 1991): D-1.
1991
Art for the Nation: Gifts in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1991: 148-149, color repro.
1991
Johnson, Ken. "West to Eden." Art in America 79 (December 1991): 90-91.
1991
Kernan, Michael. "Showing the West in Paintings as Big as All Outdoors." Smithsonian 21 (February 1991): 88.
1991
Patton, Phil. "A Day in the Life of the National Gallery of Art at Age 50." Smithsonian 21 (March 1991): 63.
1991
Richard, Paul. "Paean to the American Dream." Washington Post (November 3, 1991): G1, G8.
1991
Simon, Robin. "The National Gallery of Art, Washington: Fifty Years of Collecting for the Public Good." Apollo 133 (March 1991): 153-154.
1991
Sozanski, Edward J. "A Modern Masterpiece." Philadelphia Enquirer (17 March 1991): F-5.
1991
Suckow, Shirley. "Albert Bierstadt le paysage en gloire." La Tribune de Geneve (6 November 1991): 37.
1991
Walker, Richard W. "A Bargain for a Missing Link." Art News 90 (April 1991): 35.
1992
Anderson, Nancy. Discovered Lands Invented Pasts: Transforming Visions of the American West. New Haven, 1992: 24.
1992
May, Stephen. "Albert Bierstadt on a Grand Scale." Southwest Art 21 (May 1992): 82-84, 173.
1992
Sweeney, Louise. "Bierstadt's Expansive Vision." Christian Science Monitor (12 December 1992): 10.
1992
Wilton, Andrew. "Albert Bierstadt: Art and Enterprise." Apollo 135 (January 1992): 56.
1995
NGA Guide 1995, 233, repro.
1996
Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 33-39, color repro.
2004
Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 301-302, no. 244, color repro.

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