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Preview image of work. oil on paper,  Cloud Study, Moonlight 7498
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1969.68

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Cloud Study, Moonlight

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Artist

Albert Bierstadt (Solingen, Prussia (now Germany), 1/7/1830 - 2/18/1902, New York, New York)

Title

Cloud Study, Moonlight

Creation Date

ca. 1860

Century

19th century

Dimensions

12 3/4 in. x 9 5/16 in. (32.39 cm x 23.65 cm)

Object Type

painting

Creation Place

North America, United States

Medium and Support

oil on paper

Credit Line

Museum Purchase, Florence C. Quinby Fund, in memory of Henry Cole Quinby, Honorary Degree, 1916

Copyright

Public Domain

Accession Number

1969.68

Although he is best known for his large and operatic studio work, Bierstadt made unpretentious plein air sketches throughout his career. Rendered in the medium of oil on paper, Bowdoin’s Cloud Study, Moonlight reveals Bierstadt’s ability to dispense with drama and create modest compositions of pleasing naturalism. For Bierstadt, such sketches were intended primarily as records of his observations and as visual aids for larger studio works; personal in nature, they were not exhibited widely, nor were they meant to stand alongside the artist’s major oils.

Keywords: landscape (representation)   celestial   cloud   dark   landscape   luminous   moon   moonlight   nocturne   skyscape