畫題的故事：Albert Bierstadt’s "Mount Corcoran"

National Gallery of Art

Now on view in Lobby C: Albert Bierstadt’s "Mount Corcoran."

In 1877 Bierstadt displayed this enormous composite of Sierra Nevada mountain views at a New York City exhibition under the generic title "Mountain Lake." Undoubtedly inspired by the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s well-publicized recent purchase of Frederic Edwin Church's “Niagara," the following year Bierstadt sent his painting to Washington. There he offered it for sale to the museum through its founder, wealthy banker William Wilson Corcoran, with a cleverly chosen new title: "Mount Corcoran."

Albert Bierstadt, "Mount Corcoran," c. 1876-1877, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund)