Albertus, born in Tarrytown, New York in 1814, was the son of a sculptor, John Henri Isaac Browere (1790-1834), famous for his plaster life masks of Thomas Jefferson, Gilbert Stuart, and others. Washington Irving’s History of New York inspired Albertus to depict Peter Stuyvesant’s Arrival at Hartford (1833), Recruiting Peter Stuyvesant’s Army for the Recapture of Fort Casimir, and The Recapture of Fort Casimir (both 1838; Knoedler), which are full of animated figure groups and descriptive detail. He also exhibited The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow in 1839. Around 1834-40, Browere moved to Catskill; meanwhile, he was exhibiting works at the American Art-Union, the National Academy, and at the Apollo Association. The New York Historical Association in Cooperstown has Browere’s most famous painting, Mrs. McCormick’s General Store (1844), a comical genre scene of misbehaving boys.
Gold fever lured Browere to California in 1852 where he stayed almost four years. A second trip is documented (1858-61). Browere returned to Catskill where he died on 17 January 1887.