THE DENTELLES DE MONTMIRAIL PAINTED BY A. G. CARRICK / H.M KING CHARLES III

 

 

A. G. CARRICK / H.M KING CHARLES III former PRINCE OF WALES (bn.1948)
Les Dentelles de Montmirail (734m - 2,400 ft)
France (Vaucluse)

In Les Dentelles de Montmirail from Le Barroux, watercolor, Priaate coillection

The mountains
The Dentelles de Montmirail (734 m - are a small chain of mountains in Provence in France, in the département of Vaucluse, located just to the south of the village of Vaison-la-Romaine. They are foothills of the highest peak in Provence, Mont Ventoux, which is situated just to the east. The dramatically jagged shape of their peaks was formed by horizontal strata of Jurassic limestone being folded and forced into a nearly upright position and subsequently eroded into sharp-edged ridges and spikes. The highest peak of the Dentelles is St-Amand, at 734 m (2,400 ft). The range, which is about 8 km wide, offers over 600 trails for walking, rock climbing, and mountain biking.]The foot of the Dentelles is surrounded by vineyards of the Rhône Valley. Their name Dentelles, the French word for "lace," refers to their shape obtained by erosion, while Montmirail is derived from the Latin mons mirabilis meaning 'admirable mountain'.
Located on the territory of the communes of Beaumes-de-Venise, Crestet, Gigondas, La Roque-Alric, Lafare, Le Barroux, Malaucène, Suzette, and Vacqueyras; the Dentelles de Montmirail were an important natural frontier during Antiquity between the tribes of the Memini in the south, and the Voconces in the north. 

The painter
Arthur George Carrick is actually H.M. the King Charles III, former Prince of Wales.
When he began showing his paintings, he was too nervous to display his name so displayed under a pseudonym. Arthur George are two of his names (Charles Phillip Arthur George) and one of his titles is Earl of Carrick. King Charles III is an experienced watercolourist.  He has been painting for most of his adult life, during holidays or when his official diary allows. King Charles' interest began during the 1970s and 1980s when he was inspired by Robert Waddell, who had been his art master at Gordonstoun in Scotland. In time, King Charles met leading artists such as Edward Seago, with whom he discussed watercolour technique, and received further tuition from John Ward, Bryan Organ and Derek Hill.
The Royal Family has a tradition of drawing and painting, and King Charles’ work first came to public notice at a 1977 exhibition at Windsor Castle at which other Royal artists included Queen Victoria, The Duke of Edinburgh and The Duke of York.
King Charles paints in the open air, often finishing a picture in one go and his favourite locations include The Queen's estate at Balmoral in Scotland and Sandringham House in Norfolk, England. Sometimes King Charles  III paints during his skiing holidays, and during overseas tours when possible.
The copyright of King Charles' watercolours belongs to A. G. Carrick Ltd, a trading arm of The King's Charities Foundation. Over the years King Charles III has agreed to exhibitions of his watercolours and of lithographs made from them, on the understanding that any income they generate goes to The Prince of Wales's Charitable Foundation.
Money from the sale of the lithographs also goes to the Foundation but the paintings themselves are never for sale.
In the 1980s King Charles III, then Prince of Wales,  began inviting young British artists to accompany him on official tours overseas and record their impressions, a tradition that has continued to this day.
Reference :
- The prince of Wales paintings 

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2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

THE SWARTBERG PAINTED BY TINUS DE JONGH

 

TINUS DE JONGH (1855-1942)
The Swartberg (2,325m-7,628 ft)
South Africa (Western Cape)

In Meiringspoort, oil on canvas, 1935, Private collection

The mountains and pass
The Swartberg mountains (2,325m-7,628 ft), meaning black mountain in Afrikaans, are a mountain range in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is composed of two main mountain chains running roughly east–west along the northern edge of the semi-arid Little Karoo. To the north of the range lies the other large semi-arid area in South Africa, the Great Karoo. Most of the Swartberg Mountains are above 2000 m high, making them the tallest mountains in the Western Cape. It is also one of the longest, spanning some 230 km from south of Laingsburg in the west to between Willowmore and Uniondale in the east. Geologically, these mountains are part of the Cape Fold Belt.
Meiringspoort (750m-2,460 ft) is a pass trough the Swartberg range of mountains, Until the first pass was cut, these mountains were virtually insurmountable, The pass was cut in 1858 and the route completed in only 223 working days, comprising one of the era's most extraordinary feats of engineering. It was also a huge economic step for the interior of the Cape Colony. For example, by 1870, an eighth of the country's wool exports passed through the Meiringspoort.
The Meiringspoort provides paved road transit through the Swartberg range, using the route largely carved by a river. The poort connects the town of De Rust in the south, with the town of Klaarstroom in the north. It also offers a spectacular drive through incredible rock formations, (as depicted in the painting above) and is the setting for an annual half marathon that ends in the town of De Rust. Modern additions mean several different passes now cut different routes through the range.

The artist
Martinus Johannes "Tinus" de Jongh was one of South Africa's most popular painters.
Self-taught, he began his career as a decorator in the Netherlands where he was born, and then pursued painting full-time. He achieved some note when the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam purchased one of his early pictures. He arrived in South Africa in 1921, practicing a sober style within the Dutch tradition, typified there by Still Life with Birds and Hare. The light and landscape of South Africa soon caused him to abandon his muted palette in favour of more saturated colours (as seen above). His formulaic approach to painting Cape landscapes with gabled farmhouses created such a demand that he abandoned his considered brushwork in favour of a broader palette knife technique. His etchings sold in the hundreds through his dealer Louis Woolf. 

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2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

DEDO DE DEUS PAINTED BY ELISEU VISCONTI

ELISEU VISCONTI (1866-1944)
Dedo de Deus (1,682m - 5,551ft)
Brazil

The mountain
Dedo de Deus (The Finger of God) (1,682m - 5,551ft) is a peck whose outline resembles a hand pointing the index finger to the sky. It is one of the several geological monuments of Serra dos Órgãos which is located in Serra do Mar, between the cities of Petrópolis, Guapimirim and Teresópolis, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil. The mountaineering in Brazil is closely linked to the achievement of the Dedo de deus. The peak is a state symbol Rio de Janeiro, appearing on its flag and coat of arms. As for the coat of arms of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the first section, occupying the upper half, is blue, representing the sky and symbolizing justice, truth and loyalty, with the silhouette of the Serra dos Órgãos, highlighting the Dedo de Deus.  The symbol was created by the 1892 State Constitution and made official under the government of José Tomás da Porciúncula, with small differences over time.  In 1912, José Guimarães Teixeira, Raul Carneiro and the brothers Américo, Alexandre and Acácio de Oliveira, all from Teresópolis, were the first to step on top of the rock formation.

The artist
Eliseu Visconti, born Eliseo d'Angelo Visconti was an Italian-born Brazilian painter, cartoonist, and teacher. He is considered one of the very few impressionist painters of Brazil. He is considered the initiator of the art nouveau in Brazil.
Thanks to a prize received in 1892, Visconti travelled to Paris, where he attended the École des Beaux Arts the following year. He also took classes at the Académie Julian and the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs, where he was a pupil of art nouveau master Eugène Grasset. He was accepted at the Salon de la Nationale des Beaux Arts and at the Salon of the Société of des Artistes Français. As one of the Brazilian representatives to the Exposition Universelle 1900 he exhibited the paintings Gioventú and Oréadas, for which he received a silver medal. Back in Brazil, Visconti exhibited in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, and obtained the first place in a contest for the drawing of postal stamps for the Brazilian Casa da Moeda.  He traveled again to Europe, where he exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1905 the portrait of the artist Nicolina Vaz de Assis now at the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes. In this same year, he was invited to paint the stage curtain for the Teatro Municipal of Rio de Janeiro which he completed in his studio in Paris.
Decorative schemes executed for the National Library or Biblioteca Nacional in (Rio de Janeiro) date from this period as does another gold medal he received at the International Exhibition of Saint-Louis (Louisiana Purchase Exposition), in 1904, for the painting Recompensa de São Sebastião (see external links). The museum of Santiago of the Chile acquired his Sonho Místico (Mystical Dream) in 1912.  In 1913, Visconti returned to Europe in order to paint large scale panels for the "foyer" of the Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro. His plans to return were interrupted by the First World War so he stayed in France until 1920. The resulting paintings for the "foyer" were sent to Brazil during the war, in 1915.  In 1922 his triptych "Lar" gained him the Medal of Honor in a large exhibition created in Rio de Janeiro to commemorate the first centennial of Brazilian Independence, the Exposição do Centenário.  The following year Visconti painted the mural decoration of Rio de Janeiro's municipal council hall. In 1924, he painted the panel depicting the signature of the first Republican Constitution, for the old federal court, also in Rio de Janeiro.

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2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

THE RYSY - TATRAS MOUNTAINS PAINTED BY STANISLAW WITKIEWICZ

STANISLAW WITKIEWICZ (1851-1915)
The Rysy (2,503 m -8,212 ft)
Poland - Slovakia border

In  Halny Wind in Tatra Mountains, 1885, oil on canvas

About this painting
Halny is a foehn wind that blows in southern Poland and in Slovakia in the Tatra Mountains of the Carpathians. The most turbulent halny blows in Podhale region of southern Poland, coming from the south, down the slopes of the Tatra Mountains; in Slovakia, on the other side of the mountains, it comes from the north. Halny is a warm windstorm that blows through the valleys. It is often disastrous; ripping off roofs, causing avalanches and, according to some people, can have some influence on mental states. Most halny occur in October and November, sometimes in February and March, rarely in other months. In May 1968 a destructive halny known as Wind of the Century where winds reportedly reached 288 km/h, destroyed large areas of forestry in southern Poland.

The mountain
The Rysy (2,503 m -8,212 ft), the the highest point in Poland. named Meeraugspitze in German and Tengerszem-csúcs in Hungarian is a mountain in the crest of the High Tatras, lying on the border between Poland and Slovakia. Rysy has three summits: the middle at 2,503 m (8,212 ft); the north-western at 2,499 m (8,199 ft); and the south-eastern at 2,473 m (8,114 ft). The north-western summit is the highest point of Poland ; the other two summits are on the Slovak side of the border, in the Prezov Region. A folk explanation on the Slovak side says that the name comes from the plural word rysy meaning "lynxes", although the habitat of the lynx does not extend above the timberline.
The Hungarian name Tengerszem-csúcs and the German name Meeraugspitze mean "eye-of-the-sea peak", from the glacial lake at the northern foot of the mountain, called "eye of the sea" (Morskie Oko in Polish). Morskie Oko (literally Eye of the Sea") is the largest and fourth-deepest lake (50, 8 m - 166 ft) in the Tatra Mountains. It is located deep within the Tatra National Park, in the Rybi Potok Valley, of the High Tatras mountain range at a n altitude of 1,395m - 4,577ft.
Many Swiss Pines also grow around the lake as shown in this painting.

The artist
Stanisław Witkiewicz was a Polish painter, art theoretician, and amateur architect, known for his creation of "Zakopane Style". He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Saint Petersburg (1868–1871) and furthered his studies in Munich (1872–1875). In 1875, he moved to Warsaw and set up a painting workshop in the laundry at the Hotel Europejski. In 1884–1887, Witkiewicz worked as the artistic director of "Wędrowiec" weekly, for which he wrote a series of articles concerning the values of a work of art and the role of art critics (published in book form under the title "Painting and criticism among us", in 1891 and 1899). In 1887, he held the same position in "Kłosy" magazine.
In 1886, he visited Zakopane for the first time. He developed a fascination with the mountains, the Podhale highlanders and their vernacular traditions. His ambition became to create a Polish national style through extraction of all-Polish forms from the architectural and decorative art of the highlanders. He formulated the Zakopane Style (styl zakopiański) (also known as Witkiewicz Style in architecture, in which he designed homes and interiors for well-off, artistically inclined Poles. He was strongly associated with Zakopane and promoted it in the art community. Witkiewicz had strong views against formal education: "school is completely at odds with the psychological make-up of human beings". He applied this principle in his son's upbringing and was disappointed when the 20-year-old Witkacy chose to enroll at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. In 1908, suffering from tuberculosis, the elder Witkiewicz left his family in Zakopane and relocated to Lovran, a fashionable resort in what was then Austria-Hungary, which today is in Croatia. He died there in 1915.

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2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

POPOCATEPETL AND IZTACCHIHUATL (6) PAINTED BY JOSÉ MARIRA VELASCO

JOSE MARIA VELASCO (1840-1912)
Popocatépetl (5, 426 m -17, 802 ft) on left)
Iztaccíhuatl (5,230 m - 17,160 ft) (on right)
Mexico

In Popocatepetl and Iztacchihuatl , 1895, watercolor, The José María Velasco Museum, Mexico

The volcanoes
Popocatépetl (5,426 m - 17,802 ft), on right in this painting, is an active volcano, located in the states of Puebla, Mexico, and Morelos, in Central Mexico, and lies in the eastern half of the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt. The name Popocatépetl comes from the Nahuatl words Popōca (It smokes) and Tepētl (mountain), meaning Smoking Mountain. It is the second highest peak in Mexico, after Citlaltépetl (Pico de Orizaba) at 5,636 m (18,491 ft).
It is linked to the Iztaccihuatl volcano to the north by the high saddle known as the Paso de Cortés.
Popocatépetl is 70 km (43 mi) southeast of Mexico City, from where it can be seen regularly, depending on atmospheric conditions. Until recently, the volcano was one of three tall peaks in Mexico to contain glaciers, the others being Iztaccihuatl and Pico de Orizaba.
Iztaccíhuatl (5,230 m - 17,160 ft) is dormant volcanic mountain in Mexico located on the border between the State of Mexico and Puebla. It is the nation's third highest, after Pico de Orizaba 5,636 m (18,491 ft) and Popocatépetl 5,426 m (17,802 ft). The name "Iztaccíhuatl" is Nahuatl for "White woman", reflecting the four individual snow-capped peaks which depict the head, chest, knees and feet of a sleeping female when seen from east or west.The peak is sometimes nicknamed La Mujer Dormida (The Sleeping Woman.) Iztaccíhuatl is to the north of Popocatépetl, to which it is connected by the high altitude Paso de Cortés. Depending on atmospheric conditions Iztaccíhuatl is also visible much of the year from Mexico City some 70 km (43 mi) to the northwest.
The first recorded ascent was made in 1889, though archaeological evidence suggests the Aztecs and previous cultures climbed it previously. It is the lowest peak containing permanent snow and glaciers in Mexico.
In Aztec mythology : Iztaccíhuatl was a princess who fell in love with one of her father's warriors, Popocatépetl. The emperor sent Popocatépetl to war in Oaxaca, promising him Iztaccíhuatl as his wife when he returned (which Iztaccíhuatl's father presumed he would not). Iztaccíhuatl was falsely told that Popocatépetl had died in battle, and believing the news, she died of grief. When Popocatépetl returned to find his love dead, he took her body to a spot outside Tenochtitlan and kneeled by her grave. The gods covered them with snow and changed them into mountains.
Popocatépetl became an active volcano, raining fire on Earth in blind rage at the loss of his beloved.

The painter
José Maria Tranquilino Francisco de Jesus Velasco Gomez Obregуn, generally known as José Maria Velasco, was a 19th-century Mexican polymath, most famous as a painter who made Mexican geography a symbol of national identity through his paintings. He was both one of the most popular artists of the time and internationally renowned. He received many distinctions such as the gold medal of the Mexican National Expositions of Bellas Artes in 1874 and 1876; the gold medal of the Philadelphia International Exposition in 1876, on the centenary of U.S. independence; and the medal of the Paris Universal Exposition in 1889, on the centenary of the outbreak of the French Revolution. His painting El valle de Mexico is considered Velasco's masterpiece, of which he created seven different renditions. Of all the nineteenth-century painters, Velasco was the "first to be elevated in the post-Revolutionary period as an exemplar of nationalism."
Velasco's long career elevated Mexican landscape painting to international standing. One of his landscapes of the Valley of Mexico is in the Vatican Museum, a gift to Pope Leo XIII. His scenes of the Mexican landscape are a visual source for environmental historians, since they show the Valley of Mexico before its degradation in the twentieth century, with air pollution and urban sprawl. His landscape art has a wide appeal, since it is more accessible than history paintings that require the viewer to understand a particular event.
Today the Government of the State of Mexico, where Velasco was from, presents an award for artistic merit in his name to painters born in that state. Among the most outstanding winners are Luis Nishizawa, Leopoldo Flores, Ignacio Barrios and Héctor Cruz.
The José María Velasco Museum was opened in 1992 in Toluca City with the task of preserving and promoting his paintings.

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2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

CRISTO MOUNTAINS PAINTED BY WILLIAM VICTOR HIGGINS

WILLIAM VICTOR HIGGINS (1884-1949)
Cristo mountains (4,374m-14, 351ft)
United States of America (Colorado and New Mexico)

In  Taos mountains New Mexico, 1921, oil on canvas

The mountains
Cristo mountains (culminating at Bianca Peak 4,374m-14, 351ft ), origanally The Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Spanish for "Blood of Christ") are the southernmost subrange of the Rocky Mountains. They are located in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico in the United States. The mountains run from Poncha Pass in South-Central Colorado, trending southeast and south, ending at Glorieta Pass, southeast of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The mountains contain a number of fourteen thousand foot peaks in the Colorado portion, as well as all the peaks in New Mexico which are over thirteen thousand feet.
The name of the mountains may refer to the occasional reddish hues observed during sunrise and sunset, and when alpenglow occurs, especially when the mountains are covered with snow. Although the particular origin of the name is unclear, it has been in use since the early 19th century. Before that time the terms "La Sierra Nevada", "La Sierra Madre", "La Sierra", and "The Snowies" (used by English speakers) were used. According to tradition, "sangre de Cristo" were the last words of a Catholic priest who was killed by Indians.

The artist
William Victor Higgins was an American painter and teacher, born at Shelbyville, Indiana. He studied at the Art Institute in Chicago and at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts.
In Paris he was a pupil of Robert Henri, René Menard and Lucien Simon, and when he was in Munich he studied with Hans von Hayek. He was an associate of the National Academy of Design. Higgins moved to Taos, New Mexico in 1913 and joined in 1917 the Taos Society of Artists founded two years before by Joseph Henry Sharp, W. Herbert Dunton, Eanger Irving Couse et Oscar Edmund Berninghaus.
In 1923 he founded The Hartwood Foundation with Louise Harwood and Bert Phillips. He then painted a lot of works representing the mountains range surrounding the city of Taos and especially the Pueblo Mountains.
During the Depression, he was commissioned to paint a mural inside the Taos County Courthouse financed by the PWAP, titled Moises, El Legislador. 

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2021 - Wandering Vertexes / Mountain paintings
By Francis Rousseau

MOUNT SNOWDON FROM LLYN Y DDINAS BY SIDNEY RICHARD PERCY

SIDNEY RICHARD PERCY (1821-1886)
Mount Snowdon (1, 085 m -3,560 ft)
United Kingdom (Wales)

In Llyn-y-Ddinas, North Wales, Mount Snowdon in the background (1873), Oil on canvas, 45.5 x 76 cm. Private Collection

 
The mountain
Mount Snowdon (1, 085 m -3,560 ft),Yr Wyddfa in welsh, is the highest mountain in Wales and the highest point in the British Isles south of the Scottish Highlands. A 1682 survey estimated that the summit of Snowdon was at a height of 1,130 m - 3,720 feet ; in 1773, Thomas Pennant quoted a later estimate of 1,088 m- 3,568 ft above sea level at Caernarfon. Recent surveys give the height of the summit as 1,085 m -3,560 ft. The name Snowdon is from the Old English for "snow hill", while the Welsh name – Yr Wyddfa – means "the tumulus" or "the barrow", which may refer to the cairn thrown over the legendary giant Rhitta Gawr after his defeat by King Arthur. As well as other figures from Arthurian legend, the mountain is linked to a legendary Afanc (water monster) and the Tylwyth Teg (fairies). Mount Snowdon is located in Snowdonia National Park (Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri) in Gwynedd. It has been described as "probably the busiest mountain in Britain", with approximately 444,000 people having walked up the mountain in 2016. It is designated as a national nature reserve for its rare flora and fauna. The rocks that form Snowdon were produced by volcanoes in the Ordovician period, and the massif has been extensively sculpted by glaciation, forming the pyramidal peak of Snowdon and the Arêtes of Crib Goch and Y Lliwedd. The cliff faces on Snowdon, including Clogwyn Du'r Arddu, are significant for rock climbing, and the mountain was used by Edmund Hillary in training for the 1953 ascent of Mount Everest.
The summit can be reached by a number of well-known paths, and by the Snowdon Mountain Railway, a rack and pinion railway opened in 1896 which carries passengers the 4.7 miles (7.6 km) from Llanberis to the summit station.

The painter
Sidney Richard Percy had his greatest success painting landscapes of grazing cattle, typically set against backgrounds of distant mountains and cloudy skies. The prevailing hues of his landscapes are earth tones and soft greens, accentuated by a variety of pastel hues. The detail in his work is part of its appeal, and "it was remarked that his rocks and stones were sufficiently accurate to have served as illustrations to the writings of Sir Roderick Murchison, the popular 19th-century geologist." Llyn-y-Ddinas, North Wales, (see above) one of his more popular works on the internet, displays these qualities. He also painted landscapes of farm fields, wheel-rutted country roads, and the occasional boat scene on a lake. Although he generally painted in oils, a number of small watercolors on cardboard exist, typically unsigned, that are his work. The family, and his son the painter Herbert Sidney Percy in particular, referred to these as "potboilers", meaning that they were quickly, and often crudely executed, yet easily and cheaply sold "to put food on the table" when working on larger, more time-consuming oils for exhibition, or commissions. Many of these watercolor "potboilers" were done in the field, and then brought back to the studio to refer to when executing a more formal oil on canvas.
Sidney Richard Percy was extremely popular during the early part of his career, which for a short time brought him a fair amount of income. Among his patrons during this time was Prince Albert the Royal consort who in 1854 gave Percy's landscape of A view of Llyn Dulyn, North Wales, which had just been exhibited at the Royal Academy, as a gift to his wife Queen Victoria. This painting still hangs today in the Royal Collection. Unfortunately Sidney Richard Percy outlived his popularity, and the art world was more excited about impressionism and other styles than landscapes when he died. Today though, his work is much sought after, and his better paintings bring much higher prices in auction than any of those of his brethren in the Williams family.
When the Athenaeum in 1886 (i. 592) ran an obituary for Sidney Richard Percy they called him, "the well-known and popular painter, founder of the so-called School of Barnes . . ." Although depending on the context of what is meant by the so-called Barnes School, this is a bit of an injustice to his father Edward Williams, whom it might be argued is the founder of the Barnes School of painters, but it illustrates the popularity that Sidney Richard Percy held with the art-buying public of his day.

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2021 - Wandering Vertexes / Mountain paintings
By Francis Rousseau

MOUNT BURKE & BAY OF ISLANDS PAINTED BY FRANKLIN CARMICHAEL

FRANKLIN CARMICHAEL (1890–1945)
Mount Burke (1,270 m  - 4,167 ft)
Canada (British Columbia)

In Bay of Islands from Mt. Burke, 1931, oil on canvas, 101.6 x 122.0 cm, 

McMichael Canadian Art Collection

The mountain
Mount Burke (1,270 m (4,167 ft), is a mountain located in northeast Coquitlam, British Columbia, north of Port Coquitlam on the ridge system leading to Coquitlam Mountain. Most of the mountain is part of Pinecone Burke Provincial Park.   Mount Burke was named for Edmund Burke by Captain George Henry Richards of HMS Plumper while surveying Burrard Inlet in 1859.
The mountain was placed in Pinecone Burke Provincial Park on the park's creation in 1995.
Many people confuse Mount Burke, with the much higher and larger Burke Ridge, which is more commonly known as Burke Mountain, and in the 1920s Burke Ridge was more commonly known as Dollar Mountain, after the Canadian Robert Dollar Company, who logged the lower portions of the mountain.

The artist
Franklin Carmichael was a Canadian artist and member of the Group of Seven. Though he was primarily famous for his use of watercolours, he also used oil paints, charcoal and other media to capture the Ontario landscapes of which he was fond. Besides his work as a painter, he worked as a designer and illustrator, creating promotional brochures, advertisements in newspapers and magazines, and stylizing books. Near the end of his life, Carmichael taught in the Graphic Design and Commercial Art Department at the Ontario College of Art (today the Ontario College of Art and Design). The youngest original member of the Group of Seven, Carmichael often found himself socially on the outside of the group. Despite this, the art he produced was of equal measure in terms of style and approach to the other members' contributions, vividly expressing his spiritual views through his art.  Carmichael was a passionate landscape painter. Many of his paintings depict the trees, rocks, hills, and mountains of Ontario. His earlier works had flat juxtapositions of colour, but as he matured through the 1920s he emphasized depth and three dimensional space. Beyond simple representation of picturesque views, Carmichael attempted to capture contrast.  Contemporary Emily Carr wrote that Carmichael's work was, "A little pretty and too soft, but pleasant."Carmichael was a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.  In 1952, Dr. Ann Curtin and Carmichael's widow founded the Franklin Carmichael Art Group, now located at 34 Riverdale Drive in Toronto.


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2021 - Wandering Vertexes / Mountain paintings
By F rancis Rousseau

NANGA PARBAT PAINTED BY NICHOLAS ROERICH

 

 

NICHOLAS ROERICH (1874-1947),
Nanga Parbat (8,126 m - 26,660 ft)
Pakistan

 In Nanga Parbat, oil on canvas, 1940, Nicolas Roerich  Museum, NYC

The mountain
Nanga Parbat (8,126 metres (26,660 ft) locally known as Diamer, is the ninth highest mountain in the world . Located in the Diamer District of Gilgit-Baltistan region, Pakistan, Nanga Parbat is the western anchor of the Himalayas. ] The name Nanga Parbat is derived from the Sanskrit words nagna and parvata which together mean "Naked Mountain".  The mountain is locally known by its Tibetan name Diamer or Deo Mir, meaning "huge mountain".
Nanga Parbat is one of the 14 eight-thousanders. An immense, dramatic peak rising far above its surrounding terrain, Nanga Parbat is known to be a difficult climb.   Nanga Parbat is one of only two peaks on Earth that rank in the top twenty of both the highest mountains in the world, and the most prominent peaks in the world, ranking ninth and fourteenth respectively. The other is Mount Everest, which is first on both lists.  Nanga Parbat along with Namcha Barwa on the Tibetan Plateau mark the west and east ends of the Himalayas.

The painter
Nicholas Roerich known also as Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh (Никола́й Константи́нович Ре́рих) is quite an important figure of mountain paintings in the early 20th century. He was a Russian painter, writer, archaeologist, theosophist, perceived by some in Russia as an enlightener, philosopher, and public figure. In his youth was he was quite influenced by a movement in Russian society around the occult and was interested in hypnosis and other spiritual practices. His paintings are said to have hypnotic expression.
More about the painter =>

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2021 - Wandering Vertexes / Mountain paintings
By F rancis Rousseau
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2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

VICTORIA PEAK PAINTED BY ERNEST CHARTON DE TREVILLE

ERNEST CHARTON DE TREVILLE (1816-1877)

Victoria Peak  (552 m -1,811 ft)

China (Hong Kong)

 

In Victoria Peak vu de la Baie de Hong Kong, Oil on canvas, Private collection 

The mountain
Victoria Peak (552 m -1,811 ft) or 太平山 (in Chinese) also locally called The Peak or Mount Austin an sa few others cantonese and Hong Kong Hakka names such as Taai Pen Saa or Deng or Saan Deng or Ce Kei Saan or Lou Fung... is a mountain in the western half of Hong Kong Island. It is the highest mountain on Hong Kong island, ranked 31 in terms of elevation in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ; Tai Mo Shan (957m) being the highest point in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.The summit is occupied by a radio telecommunications facility and is closed to the public. However, the surrounding areaf public parks and high-value residential land is the area that is normally meant by the name The Peak. During the19th century, the Peak attracted prominent European residents because of its panoramic view over the city and its relatively temperate climate compared to the sub-tropical climate in the rest of Hong Kong. The sixth Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Richard MacDonnell had a summer residence built on the Peak circa 1868. Those that built houses named them whimsically, such as The Eyrie, and the Austin Arm. These original residents reached their homes by sedan chairs, which were carried up and down the steep slope of Victoria Peak.

The painter
Ernest-Marc-Jules Charton Thiessen of Treville better known as Ernest Charton or Ernesto Charton was a French painter, famous for his pastel portraits and realistic- style customary paintings. He made most of his artistic career in South America - particularly in Argentina Chile and Ecuador -, a continent where his first name, as was customary at the time, was Castilianized, which is why he was known as Ernesto Charton.
He was initially established in Valparaíso (Chile), but in 1848 he moved to Santiago where he opened a studio neighboring that of Raymond Monvoisin, another French pioneer of Chilean painting and also belonging to traveling artists as was also at that time the watercolorist Carlos Wood.
Brother of Edouard Charton, director of the Parisian magazine Le Tour du Monde Ernesto was a typical adventurous artist of the nineteenth century in search of the most exotic expressions of unexplored nature, following in this aspect the motivation of numerous European painters of the time.  Many of his American experiences were reflected in the L'llustration, a magazine also directed by his brother and of which he was a correspondent, sending not only chronicles but also drawings, such as those he sent from the streets of Valparaíso before the bombing. He also sent a drawing of the bombing of Callao, which was recorded by Louis Le Breton and published on June 23.
Tempted by the gold rush in California he embarked on October 25, 1848 on the schooner Rosa Segunda, who arrived in the Galapagos Islands within two weeks to get water; when most of the passengers were ashore, the ship abandoned them to their fate. The painter, like his companions, lost everything, including his works.
Charton, who in 1862 would return to Ecuador, managed to settle in Quito with the help of the French consul. He taught drawing and painting at the University of that city; in addition, he directed the Miguel de Santiago Liceo of Painting, a direct antecedent of the School of Fine Arts of that country. As a result of his stay in Ecuador, he left a 48-watercolors album (cf. above)
He returned to France, but in 1855 he returned to Chile with his family; he gained fame as a portraitist, landscaper and teacher. In this last quality he had a famous controversy with the first director of the Academy of Painting of Santiago. ]
In 1870 he left Chile to Argentina, crossing the Andes. From that experience, his large oil painting was born the following year View of the Andes mountain range (115x197cm) that is today in the National Museum of Fine Arts of that country, in Buenos Aires, city where he settled until his death.
In addition to the countries mentioned, he travelled in Italy, Panama (when it was still part of Colombia) Peru and China (Hong Kong, Macao) (see above). 
As a Photographer, he used snapshots as a base for his paintings, portraying typical clothes, customs and parties that he then tracked to the web.
Charton's works are characterized by their vibrant color and the realistic expression of popular customs and motifs. He left among his students from Chile, Ecuador and Argentina this cultural vision of pictorial realism applied to the theme of each country, leaving aside religious, mythological or literally copied motifs of European models.
His paintings can be seen in museums in Argentina, Chile and Ecuador.

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2021 - Wandering Vertexes / Mountain paintings
By F rancis Rousseau

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2021 - Wandering Vertexes
A blog by Francis Rousseau