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Beyer was a graduate of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where he studied between 1837 and 1838 under Joseph Wintergerst and Rudolf Wiegmann.
Beyer traveled to the United States in 1848 with his wife, living first in Newark, New Jersey and later in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Cincinnati, Ohio.
From 1845-1856, Beyer sketched and painted extensively in western Virginia, portraying picturesque market towns, landmarks, resort springs, and plantations. Many of Bayer's views were included in his Album of Virginia, a rare folio of over forty color lithographs. Printed in Dresden and Berlin by leading lithographers, the collection was bound, published, and marketed in Richmond in 1857 and 1858.
Bayer returned to Germany and, in 1863, exhibited a panorama of 150 views of America to wide acclaim.