Lake Lucerne
1858
Artist, American, 1830 - 1902

Albert Bierstadt created this scenic view of Lake Lucerne and the Swiss Alps using dozens of sketches he made on-site. Bierstadt, a German immigrant, had returned to his birthplace for training. He traveled through Switzerland on his way back to the United States.
Though set in Europe, this breakthrough work would serve as a model for Bierstadt’s equally grand paintings of the Rocky Mountains and Yosemite Valley. He would become one of the most acclaimed landscape painters of the 19th century.
The painting disappeared in 1882, after being sold at auction following the death of its original owner. It had been lost for more than 100 years when it was rediscovered in a Rhode Island farmhouse in 1990.

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 64
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 182.9 x 304.8 cm (72 x 120 in.)
framed: 235.3 x 359.4 x 17.2 cm (92 5/8 x 141 1/2 x 6 3/4 in.) -
Accession
1990.50.1
Artwork history & notes
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.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1858
Thirty-Third Annual Exhibition, National Academy of Design, New York, 13 April - 30 June 1858, no. 6.
Boston Athenaeum, c. September - December 1858, no. 327.
New-Bedford Art Exhibition, New Bedford, Massachusetts, 20 July - 7 August 1858, no. 136.
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, unnumbered catalogue, color repro.
1992
Albert Bierstadt: Art & Enterprise, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1991-1992, no. 6.
Bibliography
1858
New Bedford Daily Mercury (5 May 1858): 2.
New York Evening Post (1 May 1858): 1.
"A Grand Picture." Home Journal (3 April 1858): 2.
"A Grand Picture." New Bedford Evening Standard (6 April 1858): 2.
"A World for the Artist." Boston Evening Transcript (11 September 1858): 2.
"Art Matters." Boston Evening Transcript (1 September 1858): 2.
"Athanaeum Gallery." Boston Post (20 September 1858): 4.
"Correspondence." Home Journal (12 June 1858): 2.
"Sketchings." The Crayon 5 (May 1858): 147.
New Bedford Daily Mercury (14 December 1858): 1.
New Bedford Daily Mercury (23 September 1858): 2.
"National Academy of Design." Home Journal (8 May 1858): 2-3.
"National Academy of Design." The Albion 35 (24 April 1858): 201.
"The National Academy of Design." New York Daily Tribune (4 May 1858): 6.
National Academy of Design: Catalogue of the Thirty-Third Annual Exhibition (13 April-30 June 1858): 17, no. 99.
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.
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
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.
Boston Evening Transcript (9 March 1882): 4.
Boston Globe (18 March 1882): 2.
Boston Herald (18 March 1882): 6.
Boston Morning Journal (18 March 1882): 4.
Boston Post (18 March 1882): 1.
Art Interchange 8 (30 March 1882): 79.
Boston Daily Advertiser (18 March 1882): 9.
Boston Evening Transcript (10 March 1882): 1.
Boston Evening Transcript (18 March 1882): 3.
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
"Painting Surfaces after 100 Years." Washington Times (7 June 1990): B6.
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.
Reif, Rita. "A Long-Lost Painting by Bierstadt is Found." New York Times (11 June 1990): C-18.
1991
"Albert Bierstadt: Art & Enterprise." National Gallery of Art Circle Bulletin Number 8 (Fall 1991): 9.
Aeschlimann, Johann. "Wegen `Lake Lucerne' ist Mister Bierstadt Amerika beruhn." Luzerner Neuste. Lucerne, Switzerland. 2 November 1991.
Anderson, Nancy K., and Linda S. Ferber. Albert Bierstadt: Art and Enterprise. New York: Brooklyn Museum, 1990: 26, 41, 61, 65n.13, 106n.76, 113, 123, 124, 130, 131, 135, 143, 174, 246, 250.
Anderson, Nancy. "The European Roots of Albert Bierstadt's Views of the American West." Antiques 139 (January 1991): 220-222, 229, 232.
Brenson, Michael. "National Gallery Puts its Gifts on Display." New York Times (18 March 1991): C-11.
Collins, Glenn. "Tracking Bierstadts: The Making of a Show." New York Times (6 February 1991): C-11, 13.
Ferber, Linda. "Anatomy of an Exhibition." Barnard Alumnae Magazine 81 (Fall 1991): 16.
Forgey, Benjamin. "Masterpiece Theatre." The Washington Post Magazine (17 March 1991): 30-31.
Heffner, Stephen. "National Gallery of Art to Exhibit Masterpiece Rediscovered in Rhode Island." Providence Evening Bulletin (8 February 1991): D-1.
Johnson, Ken. "West to Eden." Art in America 79 (December 1991): 90-91.
Kernan, Michael. "Showing the West in Paintings as Big as All Outdoors." Smithsonian 21 (February 1991): 88.
Patton, Phil. "A Day in the Life of the National Gallery of Art at Age 50." Smithsonian 21 (March 1991): 63.
Richard, Paul. "Paean to the American Dream." Washington Post (November 3, 1991): G1, G8.
Simon, Robin. "The National Gallery of Art, Washington: Fifty Years of Collecting for the Public Good." Apollo 133 (March 1991): 153-154.
Sozanski, Edward J. "A Modern Masterpiece." Philadelphia Inquirer (17 March 1991): F-5.
Suckow, Shirley. "Albert Bierstadt le paysage en gloire." La Tribune de Geneve (6 November 1991): 37.
Walker, Richard W. "A Bargain for a Missing Link." Art News 90 (April 1991): 35.
Gingold, Diane J., and Elizabeth A.C. Weil. The Corporate Patron. New York, 1991: 157, color repro.
1992
Anderson, Nancy. Discovered Lands Invented Pasts: Transforming Visions of the American West. New Haven, 1992: 24.
May, Stephen. "Albert Bierstadt on a Grand Scale." Southwest Art 21 (May 1992): 82-84, 173.
Sweeney, Louise. "Bierstadt's Expansive Vision." Christian Science Monitor (12 December 1992): 10.
Wilton, Andrew. "Albert Bierstadt: Art and Enterprise." Apollo 135 (January 1992): 56.
1995
National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of A rt, Washington, Rev. ed. Washington, D.C.,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.
2013
Harris, Neil. Capital Culture: J. Carter Brown, the National Gallery of Art, and the Reinvention of the Museum Experience. Chicago and London, 2013: 424.
Inscriptions
lower right: ABierstadt. / 1858.
Wikidata ID
Q20188398