Bierstadt desired to return to the West, "in search of a subject for a great Rocky Mountain picture", so in April 1863, he departed
New York with his friend and explorer,
Fitz Hugh Ludlow They met Ludlow's wife,
Rosalie Osborne, in
St. Louis, Missouri, who accompanied them as far as Atchison, Kansas, the starting point for the
Overland Trail stagecoach. As they proceeded into and through Nebraska, Bierstadt would continuously sketch the land, weather, animals, and people around him. During this time, their party passed a fifty-
wagon train of German emigrants who were headed to Oregon. This event most likely inspired several paintings of the
Oregon Trail, including
Emigrants Crossing the Plains and
The Oregon Trail. It was also during this trip through Nebraska that Bierstadt produced a series of sketches titled
The Last of the Buffalo, which were possibly referenced later on for his 1888 painting of the same name. While still in the plains, the party stopped at a ranch to enjoy a buffalo hunt. Although Bierstadt did not participate, he was excited to paint the hunted animals. One of the men had wounded a bull and called to Ludlow to fetch Bierstadt. Ludlow described Bierstadt's set-up: "[Bierstadt] leapt from the buggy; out came the materials of success following him, and in a trifle over three minutes from his first halt, the big blue umbrella was pointed and pitched, and he sat under it on his camp-stool, with his color-box on his knees, his brush and palette in hand, and a clean board pinned in the cover of his color-box." Ludlow and two other men taunted the bull so "that [Bierstadt] may see him in action." The party continued through Nebraska, before following the
South Platte River toward Denver, Colorado. It was just after dawn when the expedition driver pointed westward and said, "There are the Rocky Mountains". Ludlow described his first view of the mountain range: "[T]o see an exquisite marine ghost appear, almost evanescent in its faint azure, but still a literal existence which had been called up from the deeps and laid to rest with infinite delicacy and difficulty, then you will form some conception of the first view of the Rocky Mountains."
Colorado Springs Ludlow and Bierstadt's party rested in Denver for several days before deciding on a spontaneous 70-mile diversion to the south to visit the base of
Pike's Peak and the
Garden of the Gods near
Old Colorado City Thirty miles into their journey, they arrived at
Castle Rock, "a peculiar hill of the butte kind, a single cone, rising abrupt and solitary out of the level plain to the height of about four hundred feet". Ludlow and another man hiked to the top, describing it as "the quietest, sunniest, most satisfying mount of vision we had yet climbed." Bierstadt stopped long enough to sketch the butte before continuing his way south. The expedition spent three days at the base of Pike's Peak to explore the Fontaine qui Bouille (now called
Fountain Creek), which allowed the men to bathe before beginning their work, making studies and collecting samples of the local geology. On reaching the actual springs, the men compared the tastes of each spring, created lemon-flavored soda, and bottled pure spring water to later compare with city water. The afternoon of their last day was spent in the Garden of the Gods. The men enjoyed squeezing into a narrow cavern and reaching "a vault about fifty feet long, ten feet high", which they examined by candlelight, and comparing the Garden's rock formations to recognizable shapes, including animals and "a statue of Liberty, standing by her escutcheon, with the usual
Phrygian cap on her head." The men were so impressed by the landscape, that "[i]t was a great disappointment to some of our kind friends that our artist [Bierstadt] did not choose the Garden of the Gods for a 'big picture.' It was such an interesting place in nature that they could not understand its unavailability for art." Ludlow later surmised that, "however impressive it might be outdoors, [the scenery] was absolutely incommunicable by paint and canvas".
Idaho Springs Upon their return to Denver, Bierstadt, still looking for a mountain subject, was referred to
William N. Byers, would impress the artist. Bierstadt separated from his expedition, and he and Byers rode a buckboard up to
Idaho Springs, After continuing to Lower Chicago Lake, Bierstadt crossed the valley to sketch the landscape from a different vantage. The peak was unnamed at the time, so Bierstadt christened it "Mount Rosalie", after Ludlow's wife. Byers believed Bierstadt had named the peak "after one of the loftiest summits of the Alps". Bierstadt and Byers's return trip to Denver was "uneventful"
Rosalie By 1857, Fitz Hugh Ludlow had become a known
hashish addict and the bestselling author of
The Hasheesh Eater. In 1859, he married Rosalie Osborne in her hometown of
Waterville, New York. Her mother had reservations about Ludlow, who continuously struggled with finances. At one point, Rosalie was forced to write at least one job inquiry for him in a letter that could have been construed as flirtatious. Bierstadt returned to his studio in
New York and, in 1866, completed his oil painting, one of many inspired by field sketches made during that trip. He named the painting after his mistress, Rosalie Osborne, whom he had married on November 21, 1866. ==Description==