1866 Print after Bierstadt Painting
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GUEST:
It's a Bierstadt, and my husband and I are both very familiar with Bierstadt, and we love his works. We were at an auction last fall and purchased it there, and then this winter went over to the public library and just did some research to find out a little more about it-- the time frames, etc. The original is supposed to be hanging in the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
APPRAISER:
You're right, absolutely. It's a wonderful print, and actually, it's more than just an American landscape. It's one of the great American landscapes. The artist is recognized here. James Smillie, the engraver, is there. And it says "Albert Bierstadt, 1863." That's when the original painting was done. But the print was done in 1866, which is on the copyright date here on this line underneath, and that's one year after the end of the Civil War. So of course the West was opening up. And we've got this wonderful composition where of course they were fascinated with waterfalls, and the light and shadow and the focus is right on that waterfall. It's perfect for the engraver's art because you have varieties of intensity of engraving, and perspective is done by the age-old method of very light engraving on the background part. And then as you get heavier engraving, it's the foreground. And of course it's just a wonderful panorama. You have this wonderful original frame as well. It's just a gorgeous Victorian frame, the kind of thing that would have hung in a big parlor with 18-foot ceilings. What did you pay for this?
GUEST:
We paid just under $500.
APPRAISER:
Well, you got a very good buy on that because at this point and in this condition, it's worth about $4,000.
GUEST:
Oh, that's good news.
APPRAISER:
If this was cleaned... There's some foxing marks in here, there's some browning around the edges. This print in very good condition sells for about $6,500 to $7,500.
GUEST:
Ooh, that's wonderful.
APPRAISER:
So it's well worth it to put a few hundred dollars into restoration. It's a wonderful item of American history and work that you're seeing here.
GUEST:
Well, thank you, we love it.
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