THORPE CLOUD BY FRANÇOIS VIVARES

FRANÇOIS VIVARES (1708-1780) 

Thorpe Cloud (287 m - 942 ft)  

United Kingdom (England)

The Hill 

Thorpe Cloud  (287m - 942ft)  is an isolated limestone hill (a reef knoll) lying between the villages of Thorpe and Ilam on the Derbyshire/Staffordshire border at the southern end of Dovedale. It is a popular hill amongst the many day-trippers who visit the area, and provides a fine viewpoint north up the dale and south across the Midland plain.

Like much of the dale, including Bunster Hill on the opposite bank, it is in the ownership of the National Trust, and is part of their South Peak Estate. These Dovedale properties were acquired by the Trust in 1934. In 1997, the writer Jeff Kent discovered that a double sunset could be seen against Thorpe Cloud from the top of nearby Lin Dale and, two years later, the phenomenon was first captured on film by the photographer Chris Doherty. The occurrence is visible in good weather on and around the summer solstice and perhaps beyond, when the sun sets on the summit of the hill, partially reappears from its steep northern slope and sets for a second and final time shortly afterwards. The precise event and its location are described in Kent's book The Mysterious Double Sunset. Thorpe Cloud and Dovedale were used as locations in the 2010 film of Robin Hood, starring Russell Crowe. Thorpe Cloud can be clearly made out in several scenes towards the end of the film.

Thorpe Cloud also has a rifle range which local and national shooting clubs use.

The artist

François Vivares was a French landscape-engraver, active in England. He was born in France at Saint-Jean-du-Bruel, near Montpellier, and brought up in Geneva. At the age of 18 he moved permanently to London. He took on Peter Paul Benazech as apprentice in 1746. Vivares exhibited engravings with the Incorporated Society of Artists in 1766 and 1768. During the last thirty years of his life he resided in Great Newport Street, central London, where he kept a print-shop. There he died on 28 November 1780, and was buried in Paddington churchyard. He was three times married, and had 31 children. His son Thomas Vivares also worked as an engraver.

His plates number about 160, and were largely published by John Boydell. Many were from the old masters: Claude, Poussin, Il Bolognese, Vanderneer and Cuyp; but a large proportion of them are views of English scenery after Thomas Gainsborough, Wootton, Thomas Smith of Derby, the Smiths of Chichester, and others. Claude's Enchanted Castle he left unfinished at his death, and it was completed by William Woollett.