Albert Bierstadt (American, 1830-1902), Nassau Beach

oil on paper laid on canvas, signed at lower right, presented in a later gilt frame, retaining exhibition labels to verso.
Stretcher size 14 x 19 in.; Frame dimensions 21 3/4 x 26 1/2 in.
Albert Bierstadt made his first trip to the Bahamas in 1877. His wife, Rosalie, had tuberculosis and wintered in Nassau from 1876 until her death in 1893. Bierstadt visited the island when she was there and made many sketches and studies of the ocean and beaches, vegetation and rural towns on the tropical island.

The present oil sketch would have been referred to while Bierstadt was completing After a Norther in the collection of The Haggin Museum, Stockton, California. This large finished painting includes a rocky grouping in the far left and a sea turtle.

This work is included in the Albert Bierstadt database being compiled in preparation by Melissa Webster Speidel for a catalogue raisonné of the artist's paintings.

We wish to thank Melissa Speidel for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.
Spanierman Gallery, New York (acquired 1977)

Exhibited:
American Paintings: The Landon Collection, The Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina, 1979, no. 27
From the Collection of the late Dr. & Mrs. Henry C. and Barbara Landon III, Wilmington, North Carolina
Additional high-resolution photos are available at www.lelandlittle.com

Minor chipping and rubbing to frame; no evidence of retouch visible under UV light.