Born in Monroe Falls, Ohio, George Elbert Burr studied in Europe and at the Art Institute of Chicago. As a traveling artist , he made etchings for magazine illustrations. He captured the grandeur of the American West in his etchings, pastel drawings, and watercolors.

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He enjoyed success early, providing illustrations for Harper's, Scribner's Magazine, Frank Leslie's Weekly, and The Cosmopolitan. In 1892, he began a four-year project illustrating a catalog of Heber R. Bishop's collection of jade antiquities for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This project, producing etchings of over a thousand artifacts, paid well enough for Burr with his wife to embark on an extended tour of Europe upon its completion. Over the next five years, they spent time in Italy, Germany, England, and Wales. Burr amassed sketches and watercolors that would provide the source material for his copper plate etchings of European scenes.

 

Burr's works are in the collections of the Library of Congress, Metropolitan Museum of Art,  Detroit Institute of Arts, and Brooklyn Museum of Art.

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The work presented here is an original from a limited number of Burr's highly acclaimed oeuvre of European scenes executed during his extented tour to Europe in1890s. It offers a vibrant picture of Burr's artistic legacy—layered, complex, and nuanced, it's Imbued with his precise delicacy and elegance—hallmarks of Burr's mature art. Everything about this work exudes a magical quality and represents a peak in the artist's career. 

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Today, we recognize George Elbeert Burr as a distinctive artist of his generation.