From 1883 To 1889
In the summer of 1856, during a four-year period of study in Europe, Bierstadt joined several American colleagues on a sketching trip.
His fascination with the Swiss terrain resulted in a series of oil studies and pencil sketches, executed during the trip, and several large canvases of the mountain landscape, painted upon his return to New Bedford, Massachusetts.
He revisited Switzerland numerous times between 1867 and 1897 to do more sketching.
In this dramatic view of the Matterhorn, the artist depicted the cloud-encircled peak in the distance, strikingly juxtaposed with a low, rocky foreground.
The vertical thrust of the mountain is reinforced by the towering pines at the lower left.
A Man Leaning on a Parapet
This painting was one of the artist's earliest works, and it relates to pictures he made about 1880-81 that show single figures absorbed in thought or engaged in labor.
The composition reveals his incipient talent for carefully calibrated light effects, bold silhouettes, and flat, geometric forms.
Just visible through the leaves is the dome of the Institut de France, across the Seine from the Louvre in Paris.
Davida Johnson Clark
This graceful under life size portrait of David Johnson Clark 1861 - 1910 was a gift from Saint-Gaudens to his longtime model and lover and the mother of his second son, Louis b.
The private token of affection also served as an early study for the head of Diana for the tower of Madison Square Garden, the most public of Saint-Gaudens's outdoor sculptures.