Herman Herzog, a prolific Artist of over 1,000 works, settled in West Philadelphia in the late 1860's.

 

Herzog was born in Bremen in 1832, attended the Dusseldorf Academy at the age of seventeen, studying under notable teachers and master artists Johann Wilhelm Schirmer (1807-1863), Andreas Aachenback (1815-1910) and Hans Frederick Gude (1825-1903).  

 

Throughout his early career he traveled and painted extensively throughout Europe, especially Norway, Switzerland and Germany.

His work gained recognition along the way with notable patrons including Queen Victoria, the Grand Duke Alexander of Russia, the Queen of Hanover, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and the Countess of Flanders. Herzog's awards included an honorable mention from the Paris Salon in 1864.

 

However, it is his work here in America for which he is most known.  Sometime between 1865-1868 Herzog immigrated to America and settled at 4101 Pine Street in Philadelphia. Herzog's home and studio was here the last 60 of his 100 years. His love of nature led him to travel throughout Pennsylvania, painting on site the waterfalls and rugged, beautiful terrain throughout the Brandywine, Chester and Pike County and  the Delaware Valley.

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Herzog's travels took him across the country to paint scenes of the Hudson River, Atlantic City, Lake George, Along the Marylands Eastern Shore and Chesapeake Bay, New Hampshire, Niagara Falls, Maine and Florida. He also traveled to the far west to document the dramatic beauty of Wyoming, Salt Lake City, Utah, Oregon, Yosemite Valley, California and the Coronado Islands off Mexico.

 

He became a U.S. Citizen on Sept 4, 1876 - the same year of the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition.  In fact, two of his paintings won awards at the Centennial Exhibition.

 

At the centennial he met Pennsylvania artist George Cope and started a lifelong friendship. Herzog's influence can be seen in Cope's work as they traveled extensively throughout Pennsylvania to include West Chester, Chadds Ford, the Pocono Mountains along the Delaware River and Pike County.

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Herzog's paintings recorded the many and varied views of the nineteenth-century American landscape- he often biked, hiked and climbed to his painting sites and left a heritage of paintings recording the unspoiled mountains, lakes, fjords, and coastal scenes of his time.

 

 

However, it was in his Philadelphia Pine street studio that Herzog completed the major portion of his American Paintings. 

 

Even when Herzog was 100 years old, he had a joint showing of his work with his son Lewis Herzog (1868-1943), who was born in Philadelphia at 4101 Pine Street. This showing took place 3 months before Herman Herzog's death on February 5th 1932.