Albert Bierstadt paintings came to be considered among of the most successful of American art out of his contemporaries, though he was born abroad, near Düsseldorf, Germany, in 1830 and not in the United States. He did arrive in New Bedford, Massachusetts shortly after his birth, but returned to Germany in 1853 to begin his artist training. Four years later Albert Bierstadt oil paintings had developed a consistent style which was painstakingly detailed while simultaneously very light and became an early example of the American Romantic movement in art. The paintings of Bierstadt became very popular until roughly the 1880’s when the now considered “old-fashioned” Romantic style of Albert Bierstadt’s artwork began to fall out of favor. The subject matter of the paintings of Albert Bierstadt was greatly influenced by the events occurring in America during the time he was beginning his career. Because America was quickly expanding west and it was at the forefront of many peoples’ minds, the scenery that started to emerge in the oil paintings of Albert Bierstadt were images of the grandiose land formations and mountain ranges of what was then considered the greatly unexplored western frontier. The majestic natural settings for Albert Bierstadt’s oil paintings often overshadowed his mediocrity in portraying an intensity of emotion in his works. Because he painted such incredible views of nature, many people ignored the fact that Albert Bierstadt’s work was often uninspired apart from his superb choice of subject. Today’s art critics tend to agree that the early sketches of Albert Bierstadt are often the more accomplished in terms of artistic skill, despite the fact that at the height of his career, the large-scale canvas Albert Bierstadt oil paintings were being sold for prices as high as $35,000 at their most expensive. It became likely that the huge scale of some of the Albert Bierstadt landscapes which depicted the American West, became symbolic representations of manifest destiny, a prominent philosophy of the time that justified the taming of the untamed west by settlers. Some of the most famous titles of Albert Bierstadt paintings are the Bombardment of Fort Sumter, Sierra Nevada in California, Dogwood, Hetch Hetchie Canyon, and Nevada Falls. All of these paintings by Albert Bierstadt illustrate the proficiency of his Romantic landscape techniques. The paintings held mass-appeal thanks to Bierstadt’s choice of subject matter, which was one of the contributing factors to his widespeared popularity and successful career as an artist. Even today, many individuals hold a great interest in the artwork of Albert Bierstadt; one of the most famous being Atlanta’s Ted Turner, the Vice Chairman of Time Warner, Inc. Currently, Albert Bierstadt’s oil paintings lie in collections around the United States, the largest of which is located in Athens, Georgia at the University of Georgia. However, the artwork of Albert Bierstadt can also be found in Boston, Massachesetts, Buffalo, New York, at Cornell University, and at the National Gallery among many other places primarily in the Eastern United States.