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signed "ABierstadt" with initials conjoined, l.l.- -oil on canvas tacked over panel- -unframed 26 x 36 in. (66 x 95.5 cm.) PROVENANCE Kennedy Galleries, New York Mr. and Mrs. Warren H. Corning, Kirtland, Ohio Albert Bierstadt became mesmerized by the majestic scenery of the West during his first visit in 1859. While the artist frequently painted panoramic vistas of the western landscape throughout his career, he sparingly included wildlife in his canvases. Although he was particularly intrigued by buffalo as early as 1859, Bierstadt's depiction of this uniquely American animal is rare and largely does not appear in his works until the late 1880s, when they were in danger of extinction. Commercial destruction of buffalo began in the 1870s, when the animals' hide became fashionable. (Buffalo were also being killed by the Plains Indians as the main source of food.) Thus by the mid-1880s, the number of buffalo had been reduced to a few hundred, and by the end of the decade, were close to extinction. Fortunately, the taxidermist turned preservationist William T. Hornaday brought the plight of these creatures to public attention. Bierstadt responded by beginning a series of pictures devoted to the buffalo, a subject which had always interested him. "Buffalo on the Plains" is particularly poignant, as the herd depicted may have been one of the last remaining groups in the West. Painted "circa" 1890, the picture combines Bierstadt's interest in this noble animal and his reverence for the splendor and vastness of the land. Two buffalo are seen grazing in the foreground plains, while the herd roams in a trail from the mountains. In "Buffalo on the Plains," Bierstadt conveys a sense of both the unspoiled land, and the unbridled spirit of the American West. Henry Guy Carleton, a journalist of the period, describes imagery which is the essence of "Buffalo on the Plains:" This is the scene. And the actors? Look upon them! Number them- -they are countless. See that dark mass filling ten thousand acres in that expanse between hill and hill- -all buffalo. Mark those long lines pushing outward like an army way- -all buffalo... The very hills are crawling, the pools are seething masses of brown, the broad meadows a swirl and sweep of currents and eddies of life, whose tide sets ever onward and onward- -yes, count them if you can- -all buffalo. Carleton, in "World," New York, March 10, 1889) "Buffalo on the Plains" exhibits Bierstadt's admiration for this national symbol, and is a celebration of America's past. The artist was commissioned to paint other versions of buffalo subjects. His greatest masterpiece "The Last of the Buffalo" was a gift from the artist's wife to The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Another version was sold in these rooms on May 26, 1988. The Property of the AMERICAN FOUNDATION TRUST(Footnote *) See footnote * for this sale.