| American Paintings — Herman Herzog - Landscape with a Bear and her Cubs |
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Herman Herzog - Landscape with a Bear and her Cubs |
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Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 23 x 29 Signed l. r.: H Herzog Hermann Herzog was born in Bremen, Germany, in 1823 and emigrated to the United States during the 1860s, settling in Philadelphia. Unlike many artists, he was independently wealthy having made a series of wise investment in his youth, and was thus able to devote his life to painting without fear of financial hardship. Herzog followed in the footsteps of many of the painters of the Romantic Movement by studying at the Düsseldorf Academy, and primarily trained with Johann Wilhelm Schirmer and later with the renowned Norwegian landscape painter Hans Gude. He received widespread acclaim for his landscape paintings throughout Europe and his abilities soon attracted the patronage of such figures as Queen Victoria and Czar Alexander II of Russia. In the United States, the painter found renewed energy in the landscape of his new home and that of Mexico. He took frequent trips to the West, and in particular California, Oregon, Wyoming, Utah and Colorado. His last expedition was made in 1905 at the age of seventy-five. With his sensitive style Herzog was able to capture the landscape at the peak of its beauty, paying close attention to the light and how it played upon the scenery. The American landscape was idealized and his depiction conformed to the Romantic notion of Manifest Destiny. Hermann Herzog died in 1932 at the phenomenal age of 100. His financial independence meant that few of his painting were ever sold during his lifetime and most remained in his family's possession until 1970 when they released a group of his works onto the art market. The artist's remarkable talent and skill has been recognized by many institutions and his works can be found in such venerable institutions as the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In this spectacular work entitled Landscape with a Bear and her Cubs, Herzog captures not only the majesty of the striking landscape but also infuses it was a narrative. Nature and the animals that inhabit it are untouched by human contact and the bear is free to watch her cubs play with a log beside the cascading waterfall. |
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