''Looking Down the Yosemite Valley, California'' is an 1865 painting by the German-American painter

Albert Bierstadt Albert Bierstadt (January 7, 1830 – February 18, 1902) was a German-American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. He joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion to paint the scenes. He was no ...

(1830–1902). It was Bierstadt's first large-scale

Yosemite Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...

picture, a subject for which he would become well known. It presents a view of one of America's most scenic spots. Based on sketches made during a visit in 1863, Bierstadt paints the valley from a vantage point just above the

Merced River The Merced River (), in the central part of the U.S. state of California, is a -long tributary of the San Joaquin River flowing from the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada into the San Joaquin Valley. It is most well known for its swift and st ...

, looking due west with the prospect framed by

El Capitan El Capitan ( es, El Capitán; "the Captain" or "the Chief") is a vertical Rock formations in the United States, rock formation in Yosemite National Park, on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The El Capitan Granite, granit ...

on the right, and

Sentinel Rock Sentinel Rock is a granitic peak in Yosemite National Park, California, United States. It towers over Yosemite Valley, opposite Yosemite Falls. Sentinel Rock lies northwest of Sentinel Dome. How it was formed Sentinel Rock formed when masse ...

on the left; the spire of

Middle Cathedral Rock The Middle Cathedral Rock is a prominent rock face on the south side of Yosemite Valley, California. El Capitan lies due north of Middle Cathedral. Middle Cathedral's East Buttress Route is recognized in the historic climbing text ''Fifty Class ...

is visible in the distance.

References

External links

American Paradise: The World of the Hudson River School
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on this painting (see index)
Looking Down the Yosemite Valley, California
Picturing America : teachers resource book {{Albert Bierstadt 1865 paintings Paintings by Albert Bierstadt Paintings in Alabama