{"data":{"id":146701,"api_model":"artworks","api_link":"https:\/\/api.artic.edu\/api\/v1\/artworks\/146701","is_boosted":true,"title":"Mountain Brook","alt_titles":null,"thumbnail":{"lqip":"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhBAAFAPQAACwmHCwmHTQrHzMsHTQsHjUsHzUtHy0oIDYxIDkyITk0Iz80I0E3JkE2J0I6JUg5J0E2KEY6KUI6LEo+LQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACH5BAAAAAAALAAAAAAEAAUAAAURIIAMBOMYwjNFSwBJSVMcSggAOw==","width":1832,"height":2250,"alt_text":"Painting of a small stream in the middle of the woods. In the center of the painting, there is a small waterfall over a large boulder. Radiant beams of sunlight penetrate the thick forest of birch and other trees, and a small bird sings from a broken branch over the waterfall."},"main_reference_number":"1997.365","has_not_been_viewed_much":false,"boost_rank":null,"date_start":1863,"date_end":1863,"date_display":"1863","date_qualifier_title":"","date_qualifier_id":null,"artist_display":"Albert Bierstadt (American, born Solingen, Prussia, now Germany, 1830\u20131902)","place_of_origin":"United States","description":"

Albert Bierstadt is best remembered for his paintings of the American West, but during his early career, the ambitious artist also created New England landscapes, particularly of the White Mountains, as seen here. When this painting was first exhibited in 1863, critics declared it Bierstadt\u2019s \u201cbest work\u201d and praised the artist\u2019s deft contrast of \u201clight and shade,\u201d which brought a heightened realism to the image. Bierstadt\u2019s affinity for the White Mountains mirrored a growing interest in the region as one of America\u2019s premier tourist attractions. Photographs of the area from the 19th century suggest that Bierstadt utilized landscape elements from the Flume, a popular New Hampshire tourist site, in this imaginary composition.<\/p>\n","short_description":"Albert Bierstadt is best remembered for his paintings of the American West, but during his early career, the ambitious artist also created New England landscapes, particularly of the White Mountains, as seen here. When this painting was first exhibited in 1863, critics declared it Bierstadt\u2019s \u201cbest work\u201d and praised the artist\u2019s skillful contrast of \u201clight and shade,\u201d which brings a heightened realism to the image.","dimensions":"111.8 \u00d7 91.4 cm (44 \u00d7 36 in.)","dimensions_detail":[{"depth":null,"width":91,"height":111,"diameter":null,"clarification":null}],"medium_display":"Oil on canvas","inscriptions":"Signed, lower left: \"A. Bierstadt\"","credit_line":"Purchased with funds provided by Mrs. Herbert A. Vance; fund of an anonymous donor; Wesley M. Dixon Jr. Fund and Endowment; Henry Horner Straus and Mr. and Mrs. Frederick G. Wacker Jr. endowment funds; through prior acquisitions of various donors, including Samuel P. Avery Endowment, Mrs. George A. Carpenter, Frederick S. Colburn, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Feinberg, Field Museum of Natural History, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Harding, International Minerals and Chemicals Corp., Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Loeff, Mrs. Frank C. Miller, Mahlan D. Moulds, Mrs. Clive Runnells, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Stone, and the Charles H. and Mary F.S. Worcester Collection","catalogue_display":null,"publication_history":"Barry Gray (R.B.Coffin), New York Leader<\/em>, January 17, 1863.\n\nFitz Hugh Ludlow, New York Evening Post<\/em>, May 22, 1863.\n\nNew York Times<\/em>, April 24, 1963, 14.\n\nGordon Hendricks, \u201cThe First Three Western Journeys of Albert Bierstadt,\u201d Art Bulletin<\/em>, 46 (September, 1964), 363, no. 244.\n\nGordon Hendricks, Albert Bierstadt: Painter of the American West<\/em> (Harry N. Abrams, 1974), 117.\n\nJudith A. Barter, et al., American Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago: From Colonial Times to World War I<\/em> (Art Institute of Chicago, 1998).\n\nSteven Conn and Andrew Walker, \u201cThe History in the Art: Painting the Civil War,\u201d Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies<\/em> 27, 1 (2001), 60\u201381, fig. 12.\n\nClare Kunny and Andrew Walker, \u201cIntroduction,\u201d Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies<\/em> 27, 1 (2001), 5\u20136.\n\nAngela Miller, \u201cAlbert Bierstadt, Landscape Aesthetics, and the Meanings of the West in the Civil War Era,\u201d Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies<\/em> 27, 1 (2001), 40\u201359, fig. 1. \n\nMargaret Rose Vendryes, \u201cRace Identity\/ Identifying Race: Robert S. Duncanson and Nineteenth\u2013Century American Painting,\" Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies<\/em> 27, 1 (2001), 98\u201399.","exhibition_history":"New York, National Academy of Design, Thirty\u2013Eighth Annual Exhibition<\/em>, Apr. 14\u2013June 24, 1863, cat. 6.\n\nBrooklyn Museum, Albert Bierstadt, Art and Enterprise<\/em>, Feb. 8\u2013May 6, 1991, cat. 36; San Francisco, Fine Arts Museum, June 6\u2013Sept. 2, 1991, Washington, DC, National Gallery of Arts, Nov. 3, 1991\u2013Feb. 17, 1992.\n\nWashington DC, National Gallery of Art, East of the Mississippi: Nineteenth Century American Landscape Photography<\/em>, Mar. 12\u2013July 16, 2017; New Orleans Museum of Art, Oct. 5, 2017\u2013Jan. 7, 2018, cat. 82 (Washington DC only).","provenance_text":"Oliver Kelly, Ohio, before 1900; by descent in the family until 1989; Hirschl and Adler Galleries, New York; Private collection, Los Angeles; Michael N. Altman and Company, New York, by 1997; the Art Institute of Chicago,1997.","edition":null,"publishing_verification_level":"Web Cataloged","internal_department_id":21,"fiscal_year":1998,"fiscal_year_deaccession":null,"is_public_domain":true,"is_zoomable":true,"max_zoom_window_size":-1,"copyright_notice":null,"has_multimedia_resources":false,"has_educational_resources":false,"has_advanced_imaging":false,"colorfulness":21.7576,"color":{"h":37,"l":48,"s":32,"percentage":0.0058452387092337585,"population":51},"latitude":null,"longitude":null,"latlon":null,"is_on_view":false,"on_loan_display":null,"gallery_title":null,"gallery_id":null,"nomisma_id":null,"artwork_type_title":"Painting","artwork_type_id":1,"department_title":"Arts of the Americas","department_id":"PC-3","artist_id":33637,"artist_title":"Albert Bierstadt","alt_artist_ids":[],"artist_ids":[33637],"artist_titles":["Albert Bierstadt"],"category_ids":["PC-3"],"category_titles":["Arts of the Americas"],"term_titles":["painting","oil paint (paint)","landscapes","organic material","american arts","animals"],"style_id":null,"style_title":null,"alt_style_ids":[],"style_ids":[],"style_titles":[],"classification_id":"TM-9","classification_title":"painting","alt_classification_ids":["TM-2191"],"classification_ids":["TM-9","TM-2191"],"classification_titles":["painting","american arts"],"subject_id":"TM-8657","alt_subject_ids":["TM-12218"],"subject_ids":["TM-8657","TM-12218"],"subject_titles":["landscapes","animals"],"material_id":"TM-2451","alt_material_ids":["TM-2601"],"material_ids":["TM-2451","TM-2601"],"material_titles":["oil paint (paint)","organic material"],"technique_id":null,"alt_technique_ids":[],"technique_ids":[],"technique_titles":[],"theme_titles":[],"image_id":"d55b0cfc-0716-d6cd-3b38-5742903ce046","alt_image_ids":[],"document_ids":[],"sound_ids":[],"video_ids":[],"text_ids":[],"section_ids":[],"section_titles":[],"site_ids":[],"suggest_autocomplete_boosted":"Mountain Brook","suggest_autocomplete_all":[{"input":["1997.365"],"contexts":{"groupings":["accession"]}},{"input":["Mountain Brook"],"weight":19358,"contexts":{"groupings":["title"]}}],"source_updated_at":"2026-08-05T16:33:53-05:00","updated_at":"2026-08-25T23:25:57-05:00","timestamp":"2026-09-06T05:52:58-05:00"},"info":{"license_text":"The `description` field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. All other data in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) 1.0 designation and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu.","license_links":["https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/","https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/terms"],"version":"1.15"},"config":{"iiif_url":"https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/iiif\/2","website_url":"http:\/\/www.artic.edu"}}