J.M.W. TURNER (1775-1851)
Qurnat as Sawdā’ - Mount Lebanon (3, 088 m -10, 131 ft)
Lebanon
1. Mount Lebanon and Convent San Antonio, 1836 - The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
The mountain
Qurnat as Sawdā’ (3,088m -10,131 ft) is the highest peak in Lebanon and the Levant. In Jacobus de Voragine's Legenda aurea, the summit of Mount Lebanon (Qurnat as Sawda') is the site on which Noah, after having survived the flood, replanted a sacred tree. Voragine states that the tree's seeds were given to Seth by an angel in the Garden of Eden and placed in Adam's mouth upon his passing such that his blood could feed its growth.
Many mountains dwarf Qurnat as Sawda in size, but few can offer the experience of ascending such beautiful, untrodden terrain. Summiting this peak carries the added satisfaction of seeing a place few visitors to Lebanon ever experience themselves.
The scenery along the way is spectacular. Expansive desert stretching to all sides is something to behold, especially the sharp juxtaposition of dry rocky soil and permanent snow fields classified as "alpine tundra." Then, just nine miles east of Qurnat as Sawda's summit, Mount Lebanon (the common term for the entire range), drops off more than 8,000 vertical feet, revealing breathtaking views and impressive cloudscapes.
Qurnat as Sawda experiences an Alpine-Tundra like weather, with cool temperatures even in the summer. Summer highs usually hover around 10–15 degrees Celsius during the day time, but go down to around 0–5 degrees at night. Winter is a very long period on this mountain (October– late-April) with average highs of only −20 °C and night time lows that can plummet to −45 °C. Snowfall is around 10–12 meters every year, and doesn't melt until mid-June. Frosts are also very common during the summer, with some nighttime lows going to around −5 °C. Lebanon peaks above 1800 m are covered with snow almost 4 months a year, and the peaks above 2,500 m are covered around 6 months a year.
The mountain peak is known to experience many avalanches which are, in fact, extremely deadly. Also, the steepness of the slopes can go up to 75 degrees.
Hiking
Hikers making the trek in early fall, summer, or late spring will encounter a significant bonus in the seasonally abandoned Cedar's Ski Resort, whose empty chairlifts to nowhere look post-apocalyptic amidst their Martian surroundings.
The hike itself should be easy enough for any moderately fit individual, but navigation poses something of a challenge. It is advised to thoroughly review online maps, all materials at one's disposal, and the most recent political movements before departing. Moreover, no water is available after departing the town of Ariz, at the base of the Cedar's resort, so pack plenty for the hike out and back.
The trail followed on ascent can be : The longitude/latitude of the summit, according to peakbagger.com, is 34 18'; 36 7' E, which places it about 3.5 miles Northwest of the peak of the northern-most chair lift of the Cedar's Ski Resort. It sounds a bit scattered, but it is fairly easy to find (it is "the tallest one »).
From Bcharre, walk or take a cab east, towards Cedar's. There is only one road headed in that direction, and it is easy to identify - it is the one that goes up. It's about 11 km to the base of the resort, where your off-trail hike will begin.
From the base, head up the main slope. There are switchbacks that make the loose rock easier to manage. It shouldn't take more than 90 minutes to get to the top of the lift and the isolated lift operator's shack pictured. We spent the night here and did not see a soul to give us trouble, but I would bet squatting is frowned upon.
From the hut, the valley runs Northwest, funneling visitors to As'Sawda. After about 2.5 miles Northwest along the dirt valley road you will meet with a slightly more established dirt road that will take you another three quarters of a mile Northwest before heading North and a little East to the stout summit (although its prominence is listed around 2,400 m, it is a short jaunt from the valley to the top - from google earth, I estimate it is no more 700 vertical feet from the valley floor to peak), which is marked by a rickety metal structure."
Reference
- Mount Lebanon in Atlas Obscura
The painter
The english painter Joseph Mallord William Turner was considered a controversial figure in his day, but is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting to an eminence in the history of painting. Although renowned for his oil paintings, Turner is also one of the greatest masters of British watercolour landscape painting. He is commonly known as "the painter of light" and his work is regarded as a Romantic preface to Impressionism.
In his thirties, Turner travelled widely in Europe, starting with France and Switzerland in 1802 and studying in the Louvre in Paris in the same year. He made many visits to Venice. Turner's talent was recognized early in his life. Financial independence allowed Turner to innovate freely; his mature work is characterized by a chromatic palette and broadly applied atmospheric washes of paint. According to David Piper's The Illustrated History of Art, his later pictures were called "fantastic puzzles." Turner was recognized as an artistic genius: influential English art critic John Ruskin described him as the artist who could most "stirringly and truthfully measure the moods of Nature."
Turner's major venture into printmaking was the Liber Studiorum (Book of Studies), seventy prints that he worked on from 1806 to 1819. The Liber Studiorum was an expression of his intentions for landscape art. The idea was loosely based on Claude Lorrain's Liber Veritatis (Book of Truth), where Lorrain had recorded his completed paintings; a series of print copies of these drawings, by then at Devonshire House, had been a huge publishing success. Turner's plates were meant to be widely disseminated, and categorized the genre into six types: Marine, Mountainous, Pastoral, Historical, Architectural, and Elevated or Epic Pastoral. His printmaking was a major part of his output, and a museum is devoted to it, the Turner Museum in Sarasota, Florida, founded in 1974 by Douglass Montrose-Graem to house his collection of Turner prints.
Turner placed human beings in many of his paintings to indicate his affection for humanity on the one hand (note the frequent scenes of people drinking or working or walking in the foreground), but its vulnerability and vulgarity amid the 'sublime' nature of the world on the other. 'Sublime' here means awe-inspiring, savage grandeur, a natural world unmastered by man, evidence of the power of God – a theme that romanticist artists and poets were exploring in this period. Although these late paintings appear to be 'impressionistic' and therefore a forerunner of the French school, Turner was striving for expression of spirituality in the world, rather than responding primarily to optical phenomena.
Turner used pigments like carmine in his paintings, knowing that they were not long-lasting, despite the advice of contemporary experts to use more durable pigments. As a result, many of his colours have now faded greatly.
John Ruskin says in his "Notes" on Turner in March 1878 : "His true master was Dr Monro; to the practical teaching of that first patron and the wise simplicity of method of watercolour study, in which he was disciplined by him and companioned by Girtin, the healthy and constant development of the greater power is primarily to be attributed; the greatness of the power itself, it is impossible to over-estimate. "
