Lake Lucerne

Albert Bierstadt 1858

National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Washington, DC, United States

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.

Details

Title: Lake Lucerne
Creator: Albert Bierstadt
Date Created: 1858
Physical 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.)
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.
Rights: CC0
Medium: oil on canvas

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