Early Life, Family and Training Albert Bierstadt was born on January 7, 1830, in Solingen, Rhine Province, Prussia, Germany. He was the son of Henry Bierstadt, a cooper, and Christina M. (Tillmans) Bierstadt. His brothers, Edward and Charles, grew up alongside him in a household that moved across the Atlantic when Albert was only a year old. By 1831, the family had settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts. In those early years, he spent his time making sketches with crayons. By 1851, he had moved on to working with oils. Seeking a more formal way to handle his craft, he left for Germany again i…