Bierstadt produced
his first oil painting when he was twenty-one years old. After, he
went back to Düsseldorf where he remained for four years, learning
to paint in the approved nineteenth-century German Romantic manner.
Bierstadt returned to America and spent a summer in the White Mountains
of New Hampshire, sketching and taking photographs of scenery. He
further explored outdoor scenes on trips to the Rocky Mountains
Both as original oils and as engravings, Bierstadt's works were very
successful, not only in the United States, but also in Europe, where
his works fortified the conception of the wildness of the young nation.
Before long, he could command prices of up to $35,000 for a large
oil canvas, and his works adorned the castles of Europe and the homes
of American millionaires. European critics praised his work, and he
was awarded medals in Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Belgium, and France.
Albert Bierstadt chose, however, to remain in the United States, and
he built a huge castle, Malkasten, overlooking the Hudson, where he
lived and worked until his death.
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