The Boating Party

Albert Bierstadt, although born in Germany, lived most of his life in New England and New York. He returned to Düsseldorf to study art when he was 23, then traveled to Rome to continue his studies. A member of the Hudson River School, Bierstadt made his first trip to the western US in 1858 with a government expedition that was mapping an overland wagon route to the Pacific. In 1860 he showed his first Rocky Mountain pictures, painted from sketches made on that trip west. His work was a successful compromise between idealism, expressing lofty ideas, and naturalism, fidelity to observed fact. In 1866 Bierstadt reached the peak of his career, extravagantly praised by the critics and more highly paid by collectors than any American artist before him. The Boating Party is undated but probably was painted after his trip west.