Scenery in the Grand Tetons

This mountain landscape acquired its title, naming the Tetons, after Bierstadt’s lifetime, and it could more properly be called a generalized Western mountain panorama. The juxtaposition of water and sheer mountain heights and the theatrical deployment of storm clouds and slanting light are characteristic of Bierstadt’s style.

For Laurance Rockefeller – who acquired this painting in the 1960s and added it to the historic furnishings of the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller Mansion – it was a reminder of his family’s long loyalty to Grand Teton National Park, and the preservation of the mountains, lake and valley in that spectacularly beautiful and dramatic part of the West.