Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak

In 1859 Bierstadt joined a government survey expedition led by Frederic W. Lander. Bierstadt's travels took him as far west as the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming and allowed him to produce a vast number of sketches and photographs that he would later use to paint on canvas in his New York studio. As in this painting Bierstadt would often paint his landscapes in an way that epitomized the beauty of the subject while projecting a feeling of hope, wonder and new beginnings in a country racked by civil war.