Do I have an original Bierstadt painting??

Question

My dad has bought several paintings at cheap resell stores for extremely cheap. This painting that has been hanging in my parents other house for about a year now has caught my attention because of its large size and the brass frame around it. In red ink at the lower right corner it says A Bierstadt. Then at the bottom of the frame is engraved "Yosemite Valley".

I didn't even know bierstadt was a famous painter until I googled the name I found on the painting... This painting looks old, its big, and has worn brass frame around it.

Answer 1

Are you sure it is a painting and not a print?  If it is under glass it is a print.  If it has tiny cracks in the paint and is on old looking canvas (look at the back) it might be an oil.  It is highly unlikely you have one of Bierstadt's originals, as they have been catalogued and are accounted for.  However, he did make some litho prints, and it may be worthwhile to rule out that yours is not one of them. . . .

it is also possible it is a hand-painted reproduction.  these days nearly every significant work of art has been copied in studios that do nothing but create oils after the originals.  

Whatever it is, enjoy it.  Bierstadt is one of my all time favorites. . . .if you ever get near enough to see one of his real paintings, you will be amazed!  I can spend hours at Seattle Art Museum in front of "Puget Sound on the Pacific Coast"  . . . an enormous and incredible work of art!  http://www.museumsyndicate.com/images/2/...  It is  

Answer 2

You can look at it with a magnifing glass. If it has a dot pattern it's a print. If it is an original it would be worth a lot. Good luck.

Answer 3

No one can tell you if you have an original painting or not without even seeing it.  I suggest you have an expert appraise it for you.

Auction houses usually give free appraisals (hoping that if you want to sell it you'll use their services).  Some ask you to email a photo before bringing it in...& might even be able to give you an answer to your question from the photo without bringing it in.  

Answer 4

Hi!  I love Bierstadt. He did several pieces

by that title as well a number of others with

'Yosemite' as part of the title. Before you go

further, you should (roll up your sleeves..

and) first look through these:

Sunrise, Yosemite Valley, c. 1870

Oil on canvas - Amon Carter Museum

http://www.cartermuseum.org/works-of-art...

Yosemite Valley, Glacier Point Trail

Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut  

http://artgallery.yale.edu/pages/collect...

Yosemite Valley, 1863

Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, The University of Oklahoma

http://www.ou.edu/artcollections/collect...

Yosemite Valley, 1865, The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, NY

http://www.hydecollection.org/collection...

Yosemite Valley, California, ca. 1863 oil on paper laid down on canvas

16 x 20" Lowe Art Museum -  University of Miami

http://www6.miami.edu/lowe/art_19_amer.h...

1. Looking Up the Yosemite Valley (1-4 listed in link below)

Oil on canvas, 36 x 58 1/2, c. 1863-75

2. Sunset in the Yosemite Valley

36 1/4 x 52 1/4 1868

3. In the Yosemite Valley

24 x 32 undated

4. Yosemite Valley

36 1/8 x 52 1/4

c.1863-75

Haggin Museum, Stockton Ca.

http://www.hagginmuseum.org/bierstadt.ht...

Valley of the Yosemite - 1864

Oil on paperboard

Museum of Fine Art, Boston MA

http://www.mfa.org/collections/search_ar...

Yosemite Valley   - Chromolithograph

After Bierstadt, Indiana Museum of Art

http://www.imamuseum.org/search/mercury/...

And more paintings with "Yosemite" in the title:

http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/bie...

http://arthistory.about.com/od/educator_...

I hope yours is real... good luck!