Lake Lucerne

Bierstadt painted Lake Lucerne in 1858, after a sketching trip to Switzerland. He was twenty-eight, still early in his career, and this was one of the first large-scale European landscapes he produced. The painting is enormous, over six feet wide, and it established the scale that would become his signature. The painting shows Lake Lucerne from an elevated viewpoint, looking south toward the Alps. The lake fills the center of the canvas, its surface a mirror of blue and silver. Mountains rise on both sides, their peaks catching the light. In the foreground, a path winds along the hillside, with a small chapel and a few figures. A village is visible on the far shore, its white buildings reflected in the water. The sky is a dome of pale blue and white, with clouds gathering around the peaks. Bierstadt had traveled to Switzerland in 1856 and 1857, during his years of study in Dusseldorf. He made sketches of the Alpine landscape, which he used as the basis for paintings after his return to the United States. Lake Lucerne was one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe, and Bierstadt painted it with the eye of an American encountering the Alps for the first time. The painting was exhibited in New York in 1858 and was praised for its scale and its luminous effects. Bierstadt used the same approach here that he would later bring to his Western landscapes: a wide, elevated viewpoint, a mirror-like lake in the center, mountains rising on both sides, and a sky filled with light. The composition became a formula, but in this early painting it still feels fresh. Oil on canvas, 183 by 305 centimeters, roughly 72 by 120 inches. Bierstadt used thin glazes to build the lake surface, layering blues and greens over a pale ground. The mountains are painted in blue and grey, with the peaks catching warm light. The figures in the foreground are tiny, a few strokes of paint each, but they give the landscape a sense of scale. This print works in a living room or dining room, where the Alpine landscape and the wide format can fill a long wall. The blue and silver palette suits cool-toned interiors, glass furniture, and chrome fixtures. The 18x24 size gives the mountain details enough room to read. The painting is in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.