Sale 2454 - 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings, September 19, 2017

Colonel’s death, and named the peak in honor of his friend. The painting was widely admired, as it aptly captured the mystique and beauty of the American West. It was sold by Bierstadt for the hefty sum of $25,000 in 1865, prompting the artist to commission an engraving after the composition. It took Smillie, the esteemed engraver and artist, three years to craft and publish the grandiloquent print. Bierstadt closely monitored the design of the print, checking in on its progress sometimes daily and requesting frequent proofs from the engraver. [5,000/8,000]