Hermann Herzog’s life spanned one hundred years during a time when new artistic styles and methods appeared with great frequency. Born in Bremen, Germany, Herzog studied at the famed Düsseldorf Academy at just seventeen years of age. Düsseldorf was a hub of the international art world: American artists including Albert Bierstadt, James Hart, Worthington Whittredge, and Eastman Johnson learned their craft there. At the time of Herzog’s enrollment, the academy implemented a major shift in program, altering its focus from history painting to landscape painting. This was a fortuitous occurrence for Herzog, whose artistic impulse found its greatest expression in landscape.

Herzog was an avid traveler and painted nearly the entire European continent. His distinguished patrons included Queen Victoria of England and Grand Duke Alexander of Russia. He received international mention and won medals from prestigious exhibitions before immigrating to the United States and settling in Philadelphia in 1869. In America, Herzog discovered a virgin landscape free from the taint of history. His instinct for exploration led him to traverse the continent; his journeys spanned from east to west and from Maine to Florida. As he hiked and biked unceasingly, his affinity for the new land intensified.

It was during this period that Herzog harnessed his extensive academic training in service of a highly refined personal style. The lifelong Herzog authority Don S. Lewis Jr. cites three major factors that distinguish the artist’s style: Realism, Tonalism, and an autographic tendency. Within Herzog’s body of work, these influences cannot be disentangled chronologically and are frequently combined in new and surprising ways. Yet throughout his oeuvre, he remained steadfast in his romantic view of the world, and a close inspection of his work reveals his unique and highly distinguishable artistic fingerprint.

Herzog exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the National Academy of Design, and the Brooklyn Art Association, and won prizes from the Paris Salon and the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition. His work is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the White House.