Albert Bierstadt's Mt. Whitney Albert Bierstadt, Mount Whitney,
c. 1877, oil on canvas, 68 7/8 x 116-5/8 inches. Rockwell
Foundation purchase. 78.14 In 1859, Bierstadt went west in
search of new material. He soon became foremost among "the Rocky
Mountain School" of artists. Moving to California to be near his
favorite scenery, he helped to establish the "California School"
of landscape painters. Bierstadt portrayed the West as a place
of almost supernatural wonder. By the mid-1870's, he was the
most popular western landscape painter in America. Bierstadt was
born in Germany but immigrated with his family to Massachusetts
when he was just two years old. He later returned to Europe to
study and while there he toured the Alps, acquiring a passion
for "grand" landscapes. In 1859 he went west and soon was
foremost among "The Rocky Mountain School" of artists. He later
moved to California to be near his favorite scenery. Interested
in its Romantic possibilities, he painted the West as a place of
almost supernatural