| Ferdinand Richardt | ||
| Birth Date: April 10, 1819 |
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| Death Date: October 29,1895 Artist Gallery |
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| Ferdinand Richardt, a Danish artist, immediately upon arriving in New York in August of 1855, set out for Niagara Falls. Once at the site, Richardt prepared numerous topographical drawings that faithfully record the details of the area. Several oil studies were also executed en plein air. Upon his return to New York, Richardt began to produce a series of paintings from these studies. By November of 1856, he had completed thirty-two paintings of the Niagara Falls area.
He exhibited the group at the Stuyvesant Institute, but the exhibition did not prove a financial success and, in February of 1857, the entire collection was put up for auction. The New York Post previewed the sale and declared: “These are the most accurate views of Niagara Falls ever exhibited in this country. The collection ought not to be separated, and would prove of value to some public institution”.
With the outbreak of the American Civil War, Richardt departed for Europe.
Jeremy Adamson, Associate Curator, National Museum of American Art stated the following in a letter to the Museum: “Paintings by Richardt appear on the art market from time to time and a number have resurfaced in museum collections after decades of neglect and misidentification. In my view, they are fascinating documents. The artist was one of the finest topographical painters to practice in the United States in the 1850s and his works are replete with details that otherwise only emerge in early photographs. “Niagara Falls” dates from the 1850s, not any earlier, most likely, it was executed in 1856, based on pencil drawings and oil sketches made at the site beginning in August, 1855”.
Restoration was completed on “Niagara Falls” thanks to a generous donation of money given by a Friend of the Museum.
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