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.