Lake Lucerne

1858

Albert Bierstadt

Artist, American, 1830 - 1902

From a little above a dirt road, we look past a grove of trees to a broad plain and a lake at the foot of towering, hazy mountains in this horizontal landscape painting. The narrow, teal-blue lake runs from left to right along the horizon, which comes about a third of the way up the composition so the hills and mountains take up most of the picture. On the far shore of the lake, steep hills are thick with fern-green trees and growth. Beyond these hills, muted gray and green rocky mountains reach precipitously into the clear, robin’s egg-blue sky so some nearly touch the top edge of the canvas. Snow nestles in the mountain peaks while gauzy mist hovers among the mountain tops. The meadow below is a patchwork of avocado-green and sand-brown fields. An ice-blue stream winds from the lake across the plain while olive-green trees and shrubs dot the fields. Closest to us, in the lower left corner of the painting, small stones and clumps of green grass run along the dirt road, and boulders line it to either side. A band of dark green spanning the road creates a screen a short distance from us, in the lower left quadrant of the composition. Through the trees is a view of minuscule buildings lining the lakeside. In the shadows, under the trees, people camp with a covered wagon covered in white fabric and several animals including a donkey. A red and yellow fire glows, almost lost in the deep shadows of the trees, next to the people. On our right, about a dozen people with a horse-drawn wagon, all tiny in scale, work in the field next to the stream. Farther along the stream, another wagon approaches a covered bridge. On our right and close to us, a dark shadow falls across the landscape. Beyond the shadow, a group of buildings with a church in the center sit on a low hill.

Media Options

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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.

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 64

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Artwork overview

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

  • New-Bedford Art Exhibition, New Bedford, Massachusetts, 20 July - 7 August 1858, no. 136.

  • 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.

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 (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.

  • 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.

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

  • 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.

  • 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

  • "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

  • 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.

  • "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.

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

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