This work depicts Mount St. Helens, located about fifty miles northeast of Portland, Oregon. While the exact location shown is difficult to determine because Bierstadt often took some artistic liberties, according to archaeologist Cheryl Mack the vantage point is likely from Mount Mitchell, a smaller peak near Mount St. Helens. To the right is Mount Rainier and to the far right is Glacier Peak.[2] An “indefatigable traveler,” Bierstadt traveled to western Canada and Alaska in summer 1889; in September and October 1889 he sketched Mount Rainier, Mount Hood, and Mount St. Helens in the [former] Washington Territory and present-day Oregon.[3]

This painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist’s work, by Melissa Speidel.

[1] Online exhibition: https://portlandartmuseum.org/online-exhibitions/volcano/
[2] Cheryl Mack, retired archaeologist for the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, identified the vantage point and confirmed which peaks are depicted in this work.
[3] The title likely includes the word Oregon because it was common at the time for easterners to refer to the entire Pacific Northwest as simply “Oregon,” and Washington did not become a state until November 1889, after Bierstadt’s travels to the area.