Gustave Johann Grunewald
German painter, 1805-1878, active in America 1831-1868
Niagara Falls
1834
Oil on canvas
38 x 50 inches (96.50 x 127 centimeters)
Purchase: The Gift of John and Fannie Saeger, 1986.
1986.007.000

In 1831 Gustav Grunewald came to the United States from Germany, where he had studied under the famous Romantic landscape painter Caspar David Friedrich at the Dresden Academy. In America he taught painting at the Moravian Seminary for Young Ladies, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He provided other artistic services to the community as well, making portraits and paintings of religious subjects. Grunewald traveled frequently throughout the United States, sketching studies for his landscapes and exhibiting his work. This is one of several paintings he made of Niagara Falls. It shows his interest in the sublime power of nature, which he contrasted with the tiny, seemingly insignificant human figures on the observation bridge jutting over the falls.