Eduard Hildebrandt (1817-1868) was a German artist who trained as a house painter before entering the studio of the marine artist Wilhelm Krause in Berlin. In 1840, he enrolled at the Atelier Isabey in Paris where he studied watercolor techniques. He returned to Germany, skilled in the rendering of landscape forms. Hildebrandt befriended eminent German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, through whom Hildebrandt received his first major commission to paint views of Rio de Janeiro. This expedition inspired future travels, notably through the Mediterranean and Middle East, the Arctic, and a round-the-world voyage from 1862-1864 when he visited Ceylon. He produced several hundred watercolors and pencil sketches and in 1867 published a three-volume set based upon his travels entitled Reise um die Erde. These beautiful images are among the most recognizable and collectable topographical prints published during the nineteenth century.