Among the Sierra Nevada, California by Albert Bierstadt

Among the Sierra Nevada, California by Albert Bierstadt

The mountains as theatre

Light breaks through storm clouds on to snow peaks at the centre of the canvas and falls in a pale haze down to a lake as still as glass. Sheer cliffs rise on the left, with a waterfall dropping down their face, and a second fall pours into the far end of the lake. On the right, tall pines stand on a green bank; below them a small herd walks down to the shore, and ducks fly low over the water in the foreground. The canvas is three metres wide, and Bierstadt meant it to be seen as an event.

Painted in Rome

Bierstadt had travelled to the Sierra Nevada in 1863, but he painted this picture in his studio in Rome in the winter of 1867–68. It is not a record of a single spot; it gathers the most dramatic features of the range into one composed view. He showed it first in London and then in Berlin and other European cities, promoting each showing with the flair of a theatrical opening, before bringing it to America in 1869.

Where it hangs

The painting is at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC, which received it as a bequest in 1977. It measures 183 by 305 centimetres.

About this print

Made from a 9,000-pixel photograph of the original, enough to print sharply at up to about 60 inches on its longest side.

Sources: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC · Wikidata Q20475372 · Wikimedia Commons