Trees with Red Berries (from Sketchbook) 1890

Albert Bierstadt made this pencil sketch, entitled *Trees with Red Berries*, at an undetermined date. It captures his attention to the close observation of nature. Bierstadt belonged to the Hudson River School, a mid-19th century American art movement that emphasized landscape painting as a means of conveying national identity and spiritual values. The sketch embodies the kind of direct engagement with nature advocated by John Ruskin, an English art critic who believed that artists should study nature closely and represent it accurately. But it is also part of an institutional history. Sketchbooks such as this allowed artists to develop the necessary visual vocabulary to later produce grand landscape paintings in their studios, often destined for exhibition at institutions like the National Academy of Design. By consulting historical sources like exhibition catalogues, letters, and contemporary reviews, we can better understand the social and institutional context in which this artwork was made and displayed.