BEN HOPE / BEINN HÒB PEINT PAR MAXIME MAUFRA

MAXIME MAUFRA (1861-1918)
Ben Hope / Beinn Hòb  (927 m)
Royaume-Uni (Ecosse)

In "Nuit d'Été, Ben Hope, Ecosse," huile sur toile, 60.5 x 73.5 cm. Collection privée

La montagne
Ben Hope /Beinn Hòb  (927 m) est une montagne du nord de l'Écosse. C'est le sommet le plus au nord, seul dans la Flow Country (une région de landes couvertes de tourbe) au sud-est du Loch Hope à Sutherland. La montagne forme un cône à peu près triangulaire, avec un grand rocher à l'ouest et deux épaulements inférieurs au sud et au nord-est. Les fleurs alpines sont abondantes en saison, même si le sol est très rocheux. La route principale vers le sommet commence à Strathmore, à l'ouest de la montagne, où se trouve un parking sur une petite route. L'itinéraire longe le brûlis d'Allt-na-caillich qui descend à travers une brèche dans les rochers orientés à l'ouest. Le parcours est raide, mais bien balisé avec des cairns occasionnels et non exposé. L'approche par l'est est moins souvent utilisée car il y a une vaste étendue de landes couvertes de bruyères sans route. L'approche par le nord n'est pas possible pour les marcheurs, car il n'y a pas de chemin entre les rochers. La vue depuis le sommet englobe le Pentland Firth, le Loch Eriboll et les montagnes voisines d'Arkle et Foinaven. Les îles Orcades sont visibles par temps clair.

Le peintre
Maxime Maufra est un peintre, graveur et lithographe français postimpressionniste. Il s’initie à la peinture avec Charles Leduc et son frère Alfred Leduc à Nantes, en reproduisant des paysages des bords de Loire, mais son père qui a décidé d'en faire un homme d'affaires, lui fait faire un séjour linguistique en Angleterre à Liverpool. Là, il découvre ce qu'est réellement la peinture, notamment celle de Turner. Il visite le Pays de Galles et l’Écosse, dont les paysages lui seront une source d'inspiration. Il revient en France en 1884, il mène de front son activité professionnelle et ses travaux picturaux. Il est alors initié à l’impressionnisme par Charles Le Roux.
En 1886, il est remarqué par Octave Mirbeau, lors d'une exposition au Salon de Paris. Cette même année il participe à l'Exposition des beaux-arts de Nantes qui se tient tous les trois ans et à laquelle sont conviés les peintres déjà consacrés et ayant participé au Salon parisien, dont Eugène Boudin, Léon Bonnat, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Jules-Élie Delaunay, Émile Dezaunay, avec lequel il va lier une grande amitié, Jean-Léon Gérôme, Henry Moret, Camille Pissarro, Auguste Renoir, Georges Seurat ou Alfred Sisley. Dans les années 1880, il parcourt ensuite la Normandie et la Bretagne pour peindre des marines et des paysages et s'installe à Paris en 1892, revenant chaque année en Bretagne. C'est lors d'un séjour à Pont-Aven en 1890 qu'il rencontre Paul Gauguin et Paul Sérusier (1864-1927).  Il est alors fortement influencé par le synthétisme, style inventé par Émile Bernard (1868-1941) et développé par Gauguin, qui traduit les formes en aplats colorés disposés selon un motif décoratif.  Il décide alors de se consacrer pleinement à la peinture et s'installe à Pont-Aven. Il fréquente, en 1891 et 1892, l'auberge de Marie Henry au Pouldu en compagnie de Charles Filiger. Il retrouve Gauguin quelques années plus tard à Paris en 1893. C’est l’occasion d’encouragements et de soutien réciproques entre ces deux artistes qui se respectent. Il témoigne néanmoins d'une pointe de scepticisme signalant son indépendance de caractère : « Je restais trois mois dans ce pays breton de Pont-Aven où je n’entendais parler que vert Véronèse pur, chrome, etc., théories de couleurs plus ou moins absurdes. Je préfère la coloration vive, mais on peut peindre avec du noir… Le tout est d’être peintre, et quoique ce mot déplaise à certains, il faut d’abord s’exprimer en cette langue. »
En 1892, Maufra fréquente avec son ami Émile Dezaunay, l'atelier d'Eugène Delâtre où ils réalisent leurs premières gravures, influencés par Paul Gauguin. Il est le premier à s'installer au Bateau-Lavoir à Montmartre en 1893, et son atelier est fréquenté par ses amis Dezaunay, Aristide Briand, ainsi que le poète Victor-Émile Michelet. En 1892 il expose une monographie de son œuvre à la deuxième exposition des peintres impressionnistes et symbolistes au Le Barc de Boutteville (Paris),
Il expose ensuite à la galerie Durand-Ruel qui sera son marchand jusqu'à la mort de l'artiste, et organisera de nombreuses expositions de ses œuvres.
Au printemps 1894, ils se fréquentent à nouveau avec Gauguin en Bretagne au Pouldu, puis Maufra part à la découverte du Trégor finistérien. Il finit par approfondir sa propre voie en abordant les paysages avec une prédilection pour les marines de Bretagne. Il a également visité la région du Dauphiné et les environs du Havre.
Après un voyage en Écosse à l'été 1895, il épouse à Londres Céline Le Floc'h, dont il avait fait la connaissance à Pont-Aven.
Écrivant à un ami en 1897, il déclara : « Je cherche les grands horizons, les cieux !... Je voudrais que les paysages soient classiques, simples et immenses »
En 1903, il est cofondateur avec  du Salon d'automne au Petit Palais et il expose en 1904.
Il est nommé Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur en 1906 et peintre de la Marine en 1916.
Militant régionaliste, Maxime Maufra est l'un des animateurs de la section « beaux-arts » de l’Union régionaliste bretonne.
Il meurt d'une crise cardiaque le 23 mai 1918 au Pont à Poncé, où il avait planté son chevalet.

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2024 - Wandering Vertexes / Gravir les montagnes en peinture
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

LA FALAISE DE POURVILLE PEINTE PAR HENRI ROUSSEAU

HENRI ROUSSEAU  (1844-1910)
La Falaise, vers 1895
Huile sur toile, 21 x 35 cm
Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris

A propos de ce tableau (notice du musée)
Cette représentation de falaise de la côte normande est un motif rare chez Rousseau qui ne s'éloigne guère des environs de Paris. Le peintre a probablement travaillé à partir d'une reproduction de peinture, peut être Falaises à Pourville de Claude Monet ou Falaise avec bateaux et Mer Orageuse, dite aussi La Vague, de Gustave Courbet. Il a pu également s’inspirer d’une des innombrables représentations des falaises normandes peintes par des artistes plus obscurs. Rousseau a probablement fait la synthèse de plusieurs sources et recomposé totalement son tableau selon l’idée qu’il se faisait de ce paysage. Quoi qu'il en soit il schématise et simplifie à l'extrême la structure de la roche tout comme la représentation de la mer. Il rajoute des pêcheurs et de grands voiliers. Là encore, l’intérêt réside dans la manière dont Rousseau s'empare du motif. Il s’inspire du graphisme de l’imagerie populaire. C’est pour lui le moyen de suivre la recommandation que lui avait fait autrefois le peintre français Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904) de conserver sa naïveté.

Le peintre
Henri Rousseau, aussi appelé « Le Douanier Rousseau », est un peintre français, considéré comme un représentant majeur de l'art naïf. Issu d'une famille modeste, il étudie le droit avant de partir à Paris et travailler à l'octroi où il occupe un poste de commis de deuxième classe, dans le cadre duquel il contrôle les entrées de boissons alcoolisées à Paris. Cette position lui vaudra son surnom de « Douanier ». Il apprend lui-même la peinture et produit un grand nombre de toiles. Elles représentent souvent des paysages de jungle. Lui n'a pourtant jamais quitté la France, son inspiration provient surtout de livres illustrés, de jardins botaniques, et de rencontres avec des soldats ayant participé à l'intervention française au Mexique. Ses toiles montrent une technique élaborée, mais leur aspect enfantin lui vaut beaucoup de moqueries. Habitué du Salon des indépendants, il commence à recevoir des critiques positives à partir de 1891 et rencontre quelques autres artistes à la fin de sa vie, comme Marie Laurencin, Robert Delaunay, Paul Signac, Guillaume Apollinaire, Jean-Léon Gérôme, Alexandre Cabanel, Edgar Degas, William Bouguereau, Paul Gauguin, Alfred Jarry, Toulouse-Lautrec et Pablo Picasso. Son travail est aujourd'hui considéré comme crucial pour l'art naïf et il a influencé de nombreux artistes, notamment des surréalistes. Paul Éluard a dit de lui : « Ce qu’il voyait n’était qu’amour et nous fera toujours des yeux émerveillés. »

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2024 - 13e année de publication -  Gravir les montagnes en peinture
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

 

MONTE SOLARO PAINTED BY THEODORE ROBINSON

 

 

 

THEODORE ROBINSON (1852-1896)
Monte Solaro (589m - 1,932ft)
Italy (Campania)

In Capri, 1880, oil on canvas, 53, 3 x 44,5cm,  Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid

The Painter
Theodore Robinson was an American painter best known for his Impressionist landscapes. He was one of the first American artists to take up Impressionism in the late 1880s, visiting Giverny and developing a close friendship with Claude Monet. Several of his works are considered masterpieces of American.
Robinson was born in Irasburg, Vermont. His family moved to Evansville, Wisconsin, and Robinson briefly studied art in Chicago. In 1874 he journeyed to New York City to attend classes at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League.
In 1876 he traveled to Paris to study under Carolus-Duran and at the École des Beaux-Arts, with Jean-Léon Gérôme. He first exhibited his paintings at the 1877 Salon in Paris, and spent the summer of that year at Grez-sur-Loing.
After trips to Venice and Bologna, he returned to the United States in 1879 for several years. In 1881 he moved into a studio in New York and became a professional painter and art teacher, and in the same year became a member of the Society of American Artists. During this time Robinson painted in a realist manner, loosely brushed but not yet impressionistic, often depicting people engaged in quiet domestic or agrarian pursuits.
In 1884 Robinson returned to France where he lived for the next eight years, visiting America only occasionally. Robinson gravitated to Giverny, which had become a center of French impressionist art under the influence of Claude Monet.
Historians are unclear when Robinson met Monet, but by 1888 their friendship was enough for Robinson to move in next door to the famous impressionist. Robinson's art shifted to a more traditional impressionistic manner during this time, likely due to Monet's influence. While a number of American artists had gathered at Giverny, none were as close to Monet as Robinson. Monet offered advice to Robinson, and he likewise solicited Robinson for opinions on Monet's own works in progress. At Giverny, Robinson painted what art historians regard as some of his finest works. These depicted the surrounding countryside in different weather, in the plein air tradition, sometimes with women shown in leisurely poses. His Winter Landscape won the 1890 Webb Prize. Another example of his mature work during this period is La Débâcle (1892) in the collection of Scripps College, Claremont California. He wrote an essay on the Barbizon painter Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and, because of his friendship with the French Impressionist, he wrote and illustrated the essay on Claude Monet. The book was published in 1896 and his illustration of Monet was featured in the exhibition "In Monet's Light."In 1895, Robinson enjoyed a productive period in Vermont, and in February 1896 he wrote to Monet about returning to Giverny, but in April he died of an acute asthma attack in New York City. He was buried in his hometown of Evansville, Wisconsin. He was 43 years old Today Robinson's paintings are in the collections of many major museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City; the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; and the Art Institute of Chicago.

The mountain 

Monte Solaro (589m - 1,932ft)  also called Monte Solare or Monte Solara is the highest point of  the island of Capri in Campania, in the Gulf of Naples, Italy.  Monte Solaro is formed from the same limestone that the island is composed of. Monte Solaro has a typical mediterranean climate, but with colder winters because of the high altitude. From the top of Monte Visto, one can see both the gulfs of Napoli and Salerno.

The summit is accessible by walking without too much difficulty by either the passetiello or a path that starts from Axel Munthe. Both routes are suitable for walkers in decent physical condition. Notable sites include the Eremo di Santa Maria a Cetrella for its architecture, and the remains of the Fortino di Bruto, a military fort built during the Napoleonic Wars.

Mount Solaro contains the "Fortino di Bruto", a blockhouse which was used in battles between Britain and France in the early 19th century.  It is characterised by its "sheer dolomitic slopes" which form an "unsurpassable partition" between the eastern and western sides of the island. 

Marina Grande lies at the foot of the mountain. It became popular with painters due to its "romantic situation, affording extensive and beautiful views to the NW of the Tyrrhenian sea, the gulf of Naples". Up the mount there is a statue of Emperor Augustus who first landed on Capri.

The area around Monte Solaro is inhabited by over 900 species of vegetation.  The mountain is also visited by many species of birds, including peregrine falcons.

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2022 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

MOUNT SINAÏ / JABAL MUSA PAINTED BY EDWARD LEAR

EDWARD LEAR (1812-1888)
Mount Sinaï / Jabal Musa (2,285 m - 7,496ft)
Egypt

In View of Mount Sinai, Watercolor,with some white tempera, over pencil, on cream-colored wove paper.
(178 x 376 mm) Purchased as the gift of Mrs. Vincent Astor,  The Morgan Library & Museum

The mountain
Mount Sinaï (2,285 m - 7,496ft) or Jabal Mūsā or Gabal Mūsā (in arab : "Moses' Mountain" or "Mount Moses"), also known as Mount Horeb or Jebel Musa (a similarly named mountain in Morocco), is a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt that is a possible location of the biblical Mount Sinaï.
The latter is mentioned many times in the Book of Exodus (and other books of the Bible) and in the Quran. According to Jewish, Christian, and Islamic tradition, the biblical Mount Sinai was the place where Moses received the Ten Commandments (depicted in the Jean-Léon Gérôme painting above).
Mount Sinai is a moderately high mountain near the city of Saint Katherine in the Sinai region. It is next to Mount Katherine (2,629m - 8,625 ft), the highest peak in Egypt.
Mount Sinai's rocks were formed in the late stage of the Arabian-Nubian Shield's (ANS) evolution. Mount Sinai displays a ring complex that consists of alkaline granites intruded into diverse rock types, including volcanics. The granites range in composition from syenogranite to alkali feldspar granite. The volcanic rocks are alkaline to peralkaline and they are represented by subaerial flows and eruptions and subvolcanic porphyry. Generally, the nature of the exposed rocks in Mount Sinai indicates that they originated from differing depths.
There are two principal routes to the summit. The longer and shallower route, Siket El Bashait, takes about 2.5 hours on foot, though camels can be used. The steeper, more direct route (Siket Sayidna Musa) is up the 3,750 "steps of penitence" in the ravine behind the monastery.
The summit of the mountain has a mosque that is still used by Muslims. It also has a Greek Orthodox chapel, constructed in 1934 on the ruins of a 16th-century church, that is not open to the public. The chapel encloses the rock which is considered to be the source for the biblical Tablets of Stone. At the summit also is "Moses' cave", where Moses was said to have waited to receive the Ten Commandments

The painter
Edward Lear was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, and is known now mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limericks, a form he popularised. His principal areas of work as an artist were threefold: as a draughtsman employed to illustrate birds and animals; making coloured drawings during his journeys, which he reworked later, sometimes as plates for his travel books; as a (minor) illustrator of Alfred Tennyson's poems. As an author, he is known principally for his popular nonsense collections of poems, songs, short stories, botanical drawings, recipes, and alphabets. He also composed and published twelve musical settings of Tennyson's poetry.
Lear was already drawing "for bread and cheese" by the time he was aged 16.
In 1842, Lear began a journey into the Italian peninsula, travelling through the Lazio, Rome, Abruzzo, Molise, Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily. In personal notes, together with drawings, Lear gathered his impressions on the Italian way of life, folk traditions, and the beauty of the ancient monuments. Of particular interest in Lear was the Abruzzo, which he visited in 1843, through the Marsica (Celano, Avezzano, Alba Fucens, Trasacco) and the plateau of Cinque Miglia (Castel di Sangro and Alfedena), by an old sheep track of the shepherds.
Among his travels, he visited Greece and Egypt during 1848-49, and toured India and Ceylon during 1873–75. While travelling he produced large quantities of coloured wash drawings in a distinctive style, which he converted later in his studio into oil and watercolour paintings, as well as prints for his books. His landscape style often shows views with strong sunlight, with intense contrasts of colour. Between 1878 and 1883 Lear spent his summers on Monte Generoso, a mountain on the border between the Swiss canton of Ticino and the Italian region of Lombardy. His watercolor Mount Olympus dated 1849 in in the MET in New York City. His oil painting The Plains of Lombardy from Monte Generoso is in the Ashmolean Museum Oxford (UK).

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2022 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

MOUNT SINAÏ/ JABAL MUSA IMAGINED BY FRA ANGELICO

 

FRA ANGELICO (1395-1455)
Mount Sinaï / Jabal Musa (2,285 m - 7,496ft)
Egypt

In Fuga in egitto, 1450, toile 38,5x37cm, Museo di San Marco, Firenze, 

 

The painter
Fra Angelico (born Guido di Pietro) was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance, described by Vasari in his Lives of the Artists as having "a rare and perfect talent".  He earned his reputation primarily for the series of frescoes he made for his own friary, San Marco, in Florence. He was known to contemporaries as Fra Giovanni da Fiesole (Brother John of Fiesole) and Fra Giovanni Angelico (Angelic Brother John). In modern Italian he is called Beato Angelico (Blessed Angelic One);  the common English name Fra Angelico means the "Angelic friar".
In 1982, Pope John Paul II proclaimed his beatification in recognition of the holiness of his life, thereby making the title of "Blessed" official.  Fiesole is sometimes misinterpreted as being part of his formal name, but it was merely the name of the town where he took his vows as a Dominican friar,  and was used by contemporaries to separate him from others who were also known as Fra Giovanni. He is listed in the Roman Martyrology as Beatus Ioannes Faesulanus, cognomento Angelicus—"Blessed Giovanni of Fiesole, surnamed 'the Angelic' ".
Vasari wrote of Fra Angelico that "it is impossible to bestow too much praise on this holy father, who was so humble and modest in all that he did and said and whose pictures were painted with such facility and piety."

 

The mountain 

Mount Sinaï (2,285 m - 7,496ft) or Jabal Mūsā or Gabal Mūsā (in arab  : "Moses' Mountain" or "Mount Moses"), also known as Mount Horeb or Jebel Musa (a similarly named mountain in Morocco), is a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt that is a possible location of the biblical Mount Sinaï. 

The latter is mentioned many times in the Book of Exodus (and other books of the Bible) and in the Quran. According to Jewish, Christian, and Islamic tradition, the biblical Mount Sinai was the place where Moses received the Ten Commandments (depicted in the Jean-Léon Gérôme painting above).

Mount Sinai is a moderately high mountain near the city of Saint Katherine in the Sinai region. It is next to Mount Katherine (2,629m - 8,625 ft), the highest peak in Egypt. 

Mount Sinai's rocks were formed in the late stage of the Arabian-Nubian Shield's (ANS) evolution. Mount Sinai displays a ring complex that consists of alkaline granites intruded into diverse rock types, including volcanics. The granites range in composition from syenogranite to alkali feldspar granite. The volcanic rocks are alkaline to peralkaline and they are represented by subaerial flows and eruptions and subvolcanic porphyry. Generally, the nature of the exposed rocks in Mount Sinai indicates that they originated from differing depths.

There are two principal routes to the summit. The longer and shallower route, Siket El Bashait, takes about 2.5 hours on foot, though camels can be used. The steeper, more direct route (Siket Sayidna Musa) is up the 3,750 "steps of penitence" in the ravine behind the monastery.

The summit of the mountain has a mosque that is still used by Muslims. It also has a Greek Orthodox chapel, constructed in 1934 on the ruins of a 16th-century church, that is not open to the public. The chapel encloses the rock which is considered to be the source for the biblical Tablets of Stone. At the summit also is "Moses' cave", where Moses was said to have waited to receive the Ten Commandments.
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2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

MOUNT SINAÏ -JABAL MUSA PAINTED BY GIOTTO

GIOTTO (1266-1337)
Mount Sinaï or Jabal Musa (2,285 m - 7,496ft)
Egypt

In The flight into Egypt, fresco, Basilica inferiore di Assisi, 1308-10

 

About this work
The right transept of the Lower Basilica of Assisi has numerous frescoes by important fourteenth-century authors. On the large barrel vault there are the Stories of Christ's Childhood and the Crucifixion with Franciscan Saints by Giotto and collaborators, dated 1308-1311. The image depicts the scene of the Flight into Egypt already apunted by Giotto few years before in the interior frescoes of the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, also known as the Arena Chapel. Inetrestirng to have a look at the differencies.

The mountain
Mount Sinaï (2,285 m - 7,496ft) or Jabal Mūsā or Gabal Mūsā (in arab : "Moses' Mountain" or "Mount Moses"), also known as Mount Horeb or Jebel Musa (a similarly named mountain in Morocco), is a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt that is a possible location of the biblical Mount Sinaï.
The latter is mentioned many times in the Book of Exodus (and other books of the Bible) and in the Quran. According to Jewish, Christian, and Islamic tradition, the biblical Mount Sinai was the place where Moses received the Ten Commandments (depicted in the Jean-Léon Gérôme painting above).
Mount Sinai is a moderately high mountain near the city of Saint Katherine in the Sinai region. It is next to Mount Katherine (2,629m - 8,625 ft), the highest peak in Egypt.
Mount Sinai's rocks were formed in the late stage of the Arabian-Nubian Shield's (ANS) evolution. Mount Sinai displays a ring complex that consists of alkaline granites intruded into diverse rock types, including volcanics. The granites range in composition from syenogranite to alkali feldspar granite. The volcanic rocks are alkaline to peralkaline and they are represented by subaerial flows and eruptions and subvolcanic porphyry. Generally, the nature of the exposed rocks in Mount Sinai indicates that they originated from differing depths.
There are two principal routes to the summit. The longer and shallower route, Siket El Bashait, takes about 2.5 hours on foot, though camels can be used. The steeper, more direct route (Siket Sayidna Musa) is up the 3,750 "steps of penitence" in the ravine behind the monastery.
The summit of the mountain has a mosque that is still used by Muslims. It also has a Greek Orthodox chapel, constructed in 1934 on the ruins of a 16th-century church, that is not open to the public. The chapel encloses the rock which is considered to be the source for the biblical Tablets of Stone. At the summit also is "Moses' cave", where Moses was said to have waited to receive the Ten Commandments.

The painter
Giotto di Bondone known mononymously as Giotto was an Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the "Gothic or Proto-Renaissance" period.
Giotto's contemporary, the banker and chronicler Giovanni Villani, wrote that Giotto was "the most sovereign master of painting in his time, who drew all his figures and their postures according to nature" and of his publicly recognized "talent and excellence".
In his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, Giorgio Vasari described Giotto as making a decisive break with the prevalent Byzantine style and as initiating "the great art of painting as we know it today, introducing the technique of drawing accurately from life, which had been neglected for more than two hundred years".
That Giotto painted the Arena Chapel and that he was chosen by the Commune of Florence in 1334 to design the new campanile (bell tower) of the Florence Cathedral are among the few certainties about his life. Almost every other aspect of it is subject to controversy: his birth date, his birth place, his appearance, his apprenticeship, the order in which he created his works, whether or not he painted the famous frescoes in the Upper Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi and his burial place.

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2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

MOUNT SINAÏ PAINTED BY JEAN-LÉON GERÔME

 

JEAN-LÉON GERÔME (1824-1904)
Mount Sinaï / Jabal Musa (2,285 m - 7,496ft)
Egypt

In La fuite en Egypte , oil and tempera on panel, 1897, Musée Georges Garret, Vesoul (France)

About the painting
Jean Leon Gérome painted Mount Sinai on several occasions and often for its historical religious content as on the canvas above or in his Moses at Mount Sinai. Each time the painter added details of miraculous appearances! Here, it is an white angel who guides in a halo of light Mary and Joseph on the way of the Flight into Egypt. The description of Mount Sinai (on the bacjground) and its surroundings, seen from above (from the point of view of the Angel) adds an additional element to the strangeness of this painting.


The painter
Jean-Léon Gérôme was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as academicism. The range of his oeuvre included historical painting, Greek mythology, Orientalism, portraits, and other subjects, bringing the academic painting tradition to an artistic climax. He is considered one of the most important painters from this academic period. He was also a teacher with a long list of students.
In 1856, he visited Egypt for the first time. Gérômes recurrent itinerary followed the classic grand tour of most occidental visitors to the Orient; up the nile to Cairo, across to Fayoum, then further up the Nile to Abu Simbel, then back to Cairo, across the Sinai Peninsula through Sinai and up the Wadi el-Araba to the Holy land, Jerusalem and finally Damascus. This would herald the start of many orientalist paintings depicting Arab religion, genre scenes and North African landscapes. In an autobiographical essay of 1878, Gérôme described how important oil sketches made on the spot were for him: "even when worn out after long marched under the bright sun, as soon as our camping spot was reached I got down to work with concentration. But Oh! How many things were left behind of which I carried only the memory away! And I prefer three touches of colour on a piece of canvas to the most vivid memory, but one had to continue on with some regret.
He did not only gather themes, artefacts and costumes for his oriental scenes, but also made oil studies from nature for their backgrounds. Several of these quick sketches are filled with details that exceed his wished for three touches of colour.
Gérôme's reputation was greatly enhanced at the Salon of 1857 by a collection of works of a more popular kind : The Duel ; After the Masked Ball (Musée Condé, Chantilly); Egyptian Recruits crossing the Desert; Memnon and Sesostris and Camels Watering.

The mountain
Mount Sinaï (2,285 m - 7,496 ft) or Jabal Mūsā or Gabal Mūsā (in arab : "Moses' Mountain" or "Mount Moses"), also known as Mount Horeb or Jebel Musa (a similarly named mountain in Morocco), is a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt that is a possible location of the biblical Mount Sinai. The latter is mentioned many times in the Book of Exodus (and other books of the Bible) and the Quran. According to Jewish, Christian, and Islamic tradition, the biblical Mount Sinai was the place where Moses received the Ten Commandments.
Mount Sinai is a moderately high mountain near the city of Saint Katherine in the Sinai region.
It is next to Mount Katherine (2,629 m - 8,625 ft), the highest peak in Egypt.
Mount Sinai's rocks were formed in the late stage of the Arabian-Nubian Shield's (ANS) evolution. Mount Sinai displays a ring complex that consists of alkaline granites intruded into diverse rock types, including volcanics. The granites range in composition from syenogranite to alkali feldspar granite. The volcanic rocks are alkaline to peralkaline and they are represented by subaerial flows and eruptions and subvolcanic porphyry. Generally, the nature of the exposed rocks in Mount Sinai indicates that they originated from differing depths.
There are two principal routes to the summit. The longer and shallower route, Siket El Bashait, takes about 2.5 hours on foot, though camels can be used. The steeper, more direct route (Siket Sayidna Musa) is up the 3,750 "steps of penitence" in the ravine behind the monastery.
The summit of the mountain has a mosque that is still used by Muslims. It also has a Greek Orthodox chapel, constructed in 1934 on the ruins of a 16th-century church, that is not open to the public. The chapel encloses the rock which is considered to be the source for the biblical Tablets of Stone. At the summit also is "Moses' cave", where Moses was said to have waited to receive the Ten Commandments.

__________________________________________

2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

INDRASAN PAINTED BY VASILY VERESHCHAGIN

VASILY VERESHCHAGIN (1842-1904)
Mount Idrasan (6,621m - 21, 722ft)
India, Pakistan

In Glacier on the Road from Kashmir to Ladakh, 1875,  Tretyakov Gallery Moscow.

The mountain
Mount Indrasan (6,621m - 21, 722ft) is located in Kullu district, Himachal Pradesh. Mt. Indrasan is considered as the most difficult mountain to climb in the Pir Panjal range of the Himalayas because of the challenges involved in scaling it. It was first climbed on October 13, 1962 by an expedition organized by Kyoto University Alpine Club, Kyoto, Japan. It is also believed that whenever Lord Indra arrives on earth he resides here. Indrasan i.e. the royal seat of the Lord Indra. The Pir Panjal Range also Panchaladeva in Hindu scriptures, is a group of mountains in the Lesser Himalayan region, running from east-southeast (ESE) to west-northwest (WNW) across the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, the Indian administrated Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the Pakistani administered territory of Azad Kashmir, where the average elevation varies from 1,400 m (4,600 ft) to 4,100 m (13,500 ft). The Himalayas show a gradual elevation towards the Dhauladhar and Pir Panjal ranges. Pir Panjal is the largest range of the Lesser Himalayas. The region is connected to the Valley of Kashmir via Mughal Road and used to be the historical connection of Kashmir with India.

 
The painter
Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin (Васи́лий Васи́льевич Вереща́гин) transcribed in English as "Basil Verestchagin", was one of the most famous Russian war artists and one of the first Russian artists to be widely recognized abroad. The graphic nature of his realist scenes led many of them to never be printed or exhibited. In 1864 he proceeded to Paris, where he studied under Jean-Léon Gérôme, though he dissented widely from his master's methods. In the Paris Salon of 1866 he exhibited a drawing of Dukhobors chanting their Psalms. In the next year he was invited to accompany General Konstantin Kaufman's expedition to Turkestan. He was an indefatigable traveler, returning to St. Petersburg in late 1868, to Paris in 1869, back to St. Petersburg later in the year, and then back to Turkestan at the end 1869 via Siberia. In 1871, he established an atelier in Munich, and made a solo exhibition of his works at the Crystal Palace in London in 1873.
More about the painter

____________________________________

Wandering Vertexes 2020
A blog by Francis Rousseau

ELBRUS PAINTED BY VASILY VERESHCHAGIN

 

VASILY VERESHCHAGIN (1842-1904)
Mount Elbrus (5,642 m - 18,510 ft)
Russia

The mountain
Mount Elbrus (Эльбру́с) also called Karachay-Balkar (Минги таy) is the highest mountain in Europe, and the seven highest summit in the world. The seven summit (which are obviously 8, with 2 in Europe !) are : Mount Everest (8,848m), Aconcagua (6,961m), Mt Denali or Mc Kinley (6,194m), Kilimandjaro (5,895m), Mt Elbrus (5,642m), Vinson Massif (4,892m), Mt Blanc (4,807m) and Mount Kosciuszko (2,228m) in Australia.
Mount Elbrus should not be confused with the Alborz (also called Elburz) mountains in Iran, which also derive their name from the legendary mountain Harā Bərəzaitī in Persian mythology.
A dormant volcano, Elbrus forms part of the Caucasus Mountains in Southern Russia, near the border with Georgia. Elbrus has two summits, both of which are dormant volcanic domes. With its slightly taller west summit, the mountain stands at 5,642 metres (18,510 ft); the east summit is 5,621 metres (18,442 ft). The lower east summit was first ascended on 10 July 1829 by Khillar Khachirov, a Karachayguide for an Imperial Russian army scientific expedition led by General Emmanuel, and the higher in 1874 by an British expedition led by F. Crauford Grove and including Frederick Gardner, Horace Walker, and the Swiss guide Peter Knubel of St. Niklaus in the canton Valais.
While there are differing authorities on how the Caucasus are distributed between Europe and Asia, most relevant modern authorities define the continental boundary as the Caucasus watershed, placing Elbrus in Europe due to its position on the north side in Russia.
More about Mount Elbrus

The painter
Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin (Васи́лий Васи́льевич Вереща́гин) transcribed in English as "Basil Verestchagin", was one of the most famous Russian war artists and one of the first Russian artists to be widely recognized abroad. The graphic nature of his realist scenes led many of them to never be printed or exhibited. In 1864 he proceeded to Paris, where he studied under Jean-Léon Gérôme, though he dissented widely from his master's methods. In the Paris Salon of 1866 he exhibited a drawing of Dukhobors chanting their Psalms. In the next year he was invited to accompany General Konstantin Kaufman's expedition to Turkestan. He was an indefatigable traveler, returning to St. Petersburg in late 1868, to Paris in 1869, back to St. Petersburg later in the year, and then back to Turkestan at the end 1869 via Siberia. In 1871, he established an atelier in Munich, and made a solo exhibition of his works at the Crystal Palace in London in 1873.
More about the painter 

____________________________________

Wandering Vertexes 2020
A blog by Francis Rousseau

KANGJENCHUNGA & PANDIM BY VASILY VERESHCHAGIN

 

VASILY VERESHCHAGIN (1842-1904)

Kangchenjunga (8, 538m - 28,169 ft) 

 Mount Pandim (6, 691 m - 21, 952 ft)

India, Népal

In Kanchinjinga, Pandim and other Mountains in the Clouds, oil on canvas, 46.3 x 64.7 cm, 1879, Private collection, Christie's

About this painting,
Very sumilar to the   Sunset in the Himalayas painted  by  Vereshchagin  the same year in 1879, that painting is  often confused with. If the impressionist technic of painting,  the frame (vegetation in the foreground) and  the colours are the same,  the view is not the same. 

About the mountains
 Kangchenjunga   (8,586 m - 28,169 ft) is the third highest mountain in the world. It lies partly in Nepal and partly in Sikkim, India. Kangchenjunga is the second highest mountain of the Himalayas after Mount Everest. Three of the five peaks – Main, Central and South – are on the border between North Sikkim and Nepal. Two peaks are in the Taplejung District, Nepal.
Kangchenjunga Main is the highest mountain in India, and the easternmost of the mountains higher than 8,000 m (26,000 ft).
Until 1852, Kangchenjunga was assumed to be the highest mountain in the world, but calculations based on various readings and measurements made by the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India in 1849 came to the conclusion that Mount Everest., known as Peak XV at the time, was the highest. It is listed int the Eight Thousanders and as Seven Third Summits...
Mount Pandim (6,691 m - 21,952 ft) is a Himalayan mountain located in the Sikkim province, India. It is considered often as a part of the Kangchenjunga mountains. Kangchenjunga (sometimes spelled Kanchenjunga), is the third highest mountain in the world, and lies partly in Nepal and partly in Sikkim (India).  It lies about 128 km east of Mount Everest.


The painter
Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin (Васи́лий Васи́льевич Вереща́гин) transcribed in English as "Basil Verestchagin", was one of the most famous Russian war artists and one of the first Russian artists to be widely recognized abroad. The graphic nature of his realist scenes led many of them to never be printed or exhibited. In 1864 he proceeded to Paris, where he studied under Jean-Léon Gérôme, though he dissented widely from his master's methods. In the Paris Salon of 1866 he exhibited a drawing of Dukhobors chanting their Psalms. In the next year he was invited to accompany General Konstantin Kaufman's expedition to Turkestan. He was an indefatigable traveler, returning to St. Petersburg in late 1868, to Paris in 1869, back to St. Petersburg later in the year, and then back to Turkestan at the end 1869 via Siberia. In 1871, he established an atelier in Munich, and made a solo exhibition of his works at the Crystal Palace in London in 1873.
In late 1874, he departed for an extensive tour of the Himalayas, India and Tibet, spending over two years in travel. He returned to Paris in late 1876
After the war, Vereshchagin settled at Munich, where he produced his war pictures so rapidly that he was freely accused of employing assistants. The sensational subjects of his pictures, and their didactic aim, the promotion of peace by a representation of the horrors of war, attracted a large section of the public not usually interested in art to the series of exhibitions of his pictures in Paris in 1881 and subsequently in London, Berlin, Dresden, Vienna and other cities.
By the late 19th century, Vereshchagin had gained popularity not only in Russia, but also abroad and his name never left the pages of the European and American press. From his earliest works, unlike most contemporary battle pieces depicting war as a kind of parade, Vereshchagin graphically depicted the horrors of war. "I loved the sun all my life, and wanted to paint sunshine. When I happened to see warfare and say what I thought about it, I rejoiced that I would be able to devote myself to the sun once again. But the fury of war continued to pursue me," Vereshchagin wrote. One day, in 1882, Vereshchagin’s exhibition in Berlin was visited by German Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke the Elder. Vereshchagin brought Moltke to his painting The Apotheosis of War. The picture evoked a sort of confusion in the Field Marshal. After his visit to the exhibition, Moltke issued an order forbidding German soldiers to visit it. The Austrian war minister did the same. He also declined the artist's offer to let Austrian officers see his pictures at the 1881 exhibition in Vienna free of charge.

___________________________________
Wandering Vertexes 2019
A blog by Francis Rousseau

MOUNT EVEREST / CHOMOLUNGA PAINTED BY VASILY VERESHCHAGIN

VASILY VERESHCHAGIN (1842-1904)

Mount Everest or Sagarmatha or Chomolunga (8,848 m - 29,029ft) 
China (Tibet) / Nepal 

In Sunset in the Himalayas,  oil on canvas, 1879

The mountain
Mount Everest (8,848 m - 29,029ft), also known in Nepal as Sagarmāthā and in Tibet as Chomolungma, is Earth's highest mountain. It is located in the Mahalangur mountain range in Nepal and Tibet. The international border between China (Tibet Autonomous Region) and Nepal runs across Everest's precise summit point. Its massif includes neighbouring peaks Lhotse (8,516 m -27,940 ft); Nuptse (7,855 m -25,771 ft) and Changtse (7,580 m -24,870 ft).
In 1856, the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India established the first published height of Everest, then known as Peak XV, at (8,840 m -29,002 ft). The current official height of (8,848 m -29,029 ft) as recognised by China and Nepal was established by a 1955 Indian survey and subsequently confirmed by a Chinese survey in 1975. In 1865, Everest was given its official English name by the Royal Geographical Society upon a recommendation by Andrew Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India. As there appeared to be several different local names, Waugh chose to name the mountain after his predecessor in the post, Sir George Everest, despite George Everest's objections.
Mount Everest attracts many climbers, some of them highly experienced mountaineers. There are two main climbing routes: one approaching the summit from the southeast in Nepal (known as the standard route) and the other from the north in Tibet. While not posing substantial technical climbing challenges on the standard route, Everest presents dangers such as altitude sickness, weather, wind as well as significant objective hazards from avalanches and the Khumbu Icefall. As of 2016, there are well over 200 corpses still on the mountain, with some of them even serving as landmarks.
The first recorded efforts to reach Everest's summit were made by British mountaineers. With Nepal not allowing foreigners into the country at the time, the British made several attempts on the north ridge route from the Tibetan side. After the first reconnaissance expedition by the British in 1921 reached 7,000 m - 22,970 ft) on the North Col, the 1922 expedition pushed the North ridge route up to 8,320 m - 27,300 ft) marking the first time a human had climbed above 8,000 m - 26,247 ft). Tragedy struck on the descent from the North col when seven porters were killed in an avalanche. The 1924 expedition resulted in the greatest mystery on Everest to this day: George Mallory and Andrew Irvine made a final summit attempt on 8 June but never returned, sparking debate as to whether they were the first to reach the top. They had been spotted high on the mountain that day but disappeared in the clouds, never to be seen again, until Mallory's body was found in 1999 at 8,155 m (26,755 ft) on the North face. Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary made the first official ascent of Everest in 1953 using the southeast ridge route. Tenzing had reached 8,595 m - 28,199 ft) the previous year as a member of the 1952 Swiss expedition. The Chinese mountaineering team of Wang Fuzhou, Gonpo and Qu Yinhua made the first reported ascent of the peak from the North Ridge on 25 May 1960.
Mount Everest is one of the Seven Summit, which includes the highest mountains of each of the seven continents. Summiting all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first achieved on April 30, 1985 by Richard Bass.
The 7 summits (which are obviously 8 !)... are :
Mount Everest (8,848 m), Aconcagua (6,961m), Mt Denali or Mc Kinley (6,194 m), Kilimandjaro (5,895 m), Mt Elbrus (5,642 m), Vinson Massif (4,892 m), Mt Blanc (4,807 m) and Mount Kosciuszko (2,228 m) in Australia.

The painter
Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin (Васи́лий Васи́льевич Вереща́гин) transcribed in English as "Basil Verestchagin", was one of the most famous Russian war artists and one of the first Russian artists to be widely recognized abroad. The graphic nature of his realist scenes led many of them to never be printed or exhibited. In 1864 he proceeded to Paris, where he studied under Jean-Léon Gérôme, though he dissented widely from his master's methods. In the Paris Salon of 1866 he exhibited a drawing of Dukhobors chanting their Psalms. In the next year he was invited to accompany General Konstantin Kaufman's expedition to Turkestan. He was an indefatigable traveler, returning to St. Petersburg in late 1868, to Paris in 1869, back to St. Petersburg later in the year, and then back to Turkestan at the end 1869 via Siberia. In 1871, he established an atelier in Munich, and made a solo exhibition of his works at the Crystal Palace in London in 1873.
In late 1874, he departed for an extensive tour of the Himalayas, India and Tibet, spending over two years in travel. He returned to Paris in late 1876
After the war, Vereshchagin settled at Munich, where he produced his war pictures so rapidly that he was freely accused of employing assistants. The sensational subjects of his pictures, and their didactic aim, the promotion of peace by a representation of the horrors of war, attracted a large section of the public not usually interested in art to the series of exhibitions of his pictures in Paris in 1881 and subsequently in London, Berlin, Dresden, Vienna and other cities.
By the late 19th century, Vereshchagin had gained popularity not only in Russia, but also abroad and his name never left the pages of the European and American press. From his earliest works, unlike most contemporary battle pieces depicting war as a kind of parade, Vereshchagin graphically depicted the horrors of war. "I loved the sun all my life, and wanted to paint sunshine. When I happened to see warfare and say what I thought about it, I rejoiced that I would be able to devote myself to the sun once again. But the fury of war continued to pursue me," Vereshchagin wrote. One day, in 1882, Vereshchagin’s exhibition in Berlin was visited by German Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke the Elder. Vereshchagin brought Moltke to his painting The Apotheosis of War. The picture evoked a sort of confusion in the Field Marshal. After his visit to the exhibition, Moltke issued an order forbidding German soldiers to visit it. The Austrian war minister did the same. He also declined the artist's offer to let Austrian officers see his pictures at the 1881 exhibition in Vienna free of charge.

___________________________________
Wandering Vertexes 2019 
A blog by Francis Rousseau

GERLACHOVSKY STIT (2) BY STANISLAW GALEK

STANISLAW GALEK (1876-1961)

Gechovský štít (2,654 m - 8,709 ft)

Slovakia- Poland

  In Tatry, watercolor, Private collection 

The mountain 

 Gerlachovský štít (2,654 m - 8,709 ft), Gerlach Peak in english, is the highest peak in the High Tatras, in Slovakia, and in the whole 1,500 km (930 mi) long Carpathian mountain chain. The pyramidal shape of the massif is marked by a huge cirque. Despite its relatively low elevation, the about 2,000 m vertical rise from the valley floor makes Gerlachovský štít  soar. Mistaken for an average mountain in the rugged High Tatras range in the more distant past, it has since played a symbolic role in the eyes of the rulers and populations of several Central European nations, to the point that between the 19th and mid-20th century, it had four different names with six name reversals. It managed to be the highest mountain of the Kingdom of Hungary, and of the countries of Czechoslovakia and Slovakia within the span of only about two decades of the 20th century.

Gerlachovský štít  shares its geology and ecology with the rest of the High Tatras, but provides a worthwhile environment for biologists as the highest ground anywhere in Europe north of the parallel linking approximately Munich, Salzburg, and Vienna. With the travel restrictions imposed by the Eastern Bloc, the mountain was particularly treasured as the loftiest point available to climb to by Czechs, East Germans, Hungarians, Poles, and Slovaks. It continues to attract its share of visitors although the local authorities have been continually adding new restrictions on access.

The painter 
Stanisław Gałek was a Polish painter and sculptor, and... designer of kilims. In 1896 he graduated from the Vocational School of Wood Industry in Zakopane and then taught in it a drawing, being an assistant to Edgar Kováts . In 1899 he began studies at the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts in the studios of Jacek Malczewski and Jan Stanisławski. A year later, he stopped studying in Kraków and left for Munich , where he began studying at Königliche Kunstgewerbeschule.
Later, he studied at the Paris École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in the studio of Jean-Léon Gérôme.
In 1910, he left to create in Italy and the Crimea . In 1912 he received the work of a drawing teacher at a vocational school in Kołomyja, from where he returned to Zakopane in 1916 and again began to teach at the School of Wood Industry.
From 1931, he devoted himself only to painting.
 He exhibited his works for the first time in 1900, he was a regular participant in exhibitions organized by the Krakow Society of Friends of Fine Arts and from 1907 by the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts. He took part in an international exhibition organized in 1910 in Berlin, and in 1929 in the Poznań Universal National Exhibition. In 1930 he exhibited in Budapest and Vienna.  In 1960, the Warsaw Zachęta exhibition hosted an individual jubilee exhibition showing the full artistic output of Stanisław Gałek. He was one of the most outstanding painters showing the Tatras , especially the area around Morskie Oko.
In addition, he carved and designed patterns of kilims for the Kilim association in Zakopane.

_______________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

MOUNT SINAÏ PAINTED BY JACQUES DE LÉTIN

JACQUES DE LÉTIN (1597-1661)

Mount Sinaï or Jabal Musa (2,285 m - 7,496ft) 

Egypt

In Moïse au Mont Sinai, oil on canvas (210 × 232 cm), 1655, Museum of Fine Arts, Troyes, France  

The painting 
This painting as nothing to do with a représentation of Mount Sinais  / Djebal Mussa the painter ould see at this time  IN this allegoric painting Moses poses with the Tables of the Law, on which the Ten Commandments were written (in French, according to de Létin ! ).
Behind him  is representation Mount Sinai (not very realistic!)  where he received the Commandments. The building in the background is Saint Catherine's Monastery, at the foot of Mount Sinai. It is one of the oldest monasteries in the world. A beam of light falls on the monastery, through an eye in the rock on the left.

The painter 
The French painter Jacques de Létin,  also known as Jacques Ninet de Lestin was born in a relatively wealthy family,  sensitized to the artistic activity that was still unfolding in Troyes in the early seventeenth century. His father, Jehan de Létin, runs a hotel called L'Image de Saint-Christophe. During his stay in Italy, The young Jacques de Letin  met Simon Vouet, with whom he became friend.
After his death and despite his  notoriety during his lifetime, Jacques de Letin was quickly forgotten. As early as the end of the seventeenth century, art historians cite him without further comment in the list of artists attached to the style of Simon Vouet. In one of these lists, the name of Jacques de Létin was transformed into "Nicolas de Lestin "by forgetting a comma between Ninet and Lestin. More than two centuries later, it is the  historian Albert Babeau who, in 1882, found the identity and right biography of Jacques de Létin.
Many of his works disappeared during the Revolution and since 1940. One can see what remains of his works, notably in the  churches of the city o fTtroyes in France :   Saint-Pantaléon, Saint-Remi, Sainte-Madeleine and  Our Lady of Aix-en-Othe. His Apparition of the Virgin to Saint Robert is kept at the church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Chaource, and Saint-Louis dying of the plague in Tunis in the right arm of the transept of the church Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis in Paris.
But since the beginning of the twenty-first century, when the painter is better known, new works of his hand have been identified. In 2011, the Bordeaux Museum of Fine Arts acquired two paintings by Jacques de Létin representing La Grammaire and La Géométrie. The museum of fine arts of Reims, retains a Lamentation on the dead Christ painted between 1640 and 1645.

The mountain 

Mount Sinaï (2,285 m - 7,496ft) or Jabal Mūsā or Gabal Mūsā (in arab  : "Moses' Mountain" or "Mount Moses"), also known as Mount Horeb or Jebel Musa (a similarly named mountain in Morocco), is a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt that is a possible location of the biblical Mount Sinaï. 

The latter is mentioned many times in the Book of Exodus (and other books of the Bible) and in the Quran. According to Jewish, Christian, and Islamic tradition, the biblical Mount Sinai was the place where Moses received the Ten Commandments (depicted in the Jean-Léon Gérôme painting above).

Mount Sinai is a moderately high mountain near the city of Saint Katherine in the Sinai region. It is next to Mount Katherine (2,629m - 8,625 ft), the highest peak in Egypt. 

Mount Sinai's rocks were formed in the late stage of the Arabian-Nubian Shield's (ANS) evolution. Mount Sinai displays a ring complex that consists of alkaline granites intruded into diverse rock types, including volcanics. The granites range in composition from syenogranite to alkali feldspar granite. The volcanic rocks are alkaline to peralkaline and they are represented by subaerial flows and eruptions and subvolcanic porphyry. Generally, the nature of the exposed rocks in Mount Sinai indicates that they originated from differing depths.

There are two principal routes to the summit. The longer and shallower route, Siket El Bashait, takes about 2.5 hours on foot, though camels can be used. The steeper, more direct route (Siket Sayidna Musa) is up the 3,750 "steps of penitence" in the ravine behind the monastery.

The summit of the mountain has a mosque that is still used by Muslims. It also has a Greek Orthodox chapel, constructed in 1934 on the ruins of a 16th-century church, that is not open to the public. The chapel encloses the rock which is considered to be the source for the biblical Tablets of Stone. At the summit also is "Moses' cave", where Moses was said to have waited to receive the Ten Commandments.

_______________________________

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

GERLACHOVSKY STIT BY STANISLAW GALEK

STANISLAW GALEK (1876-1961)

Gechovský štít (2,654 m - 8,709 ft)

Slovakia- Poland

  In Turnie tatrzanskie, watercolor, Private collection 

The mountain 

 Gerlachovský štít (2,654 m - 8,709 ft), Gerlach Peak in english, is the highest peak in the High Tatras, in Slovakia, and in the whole 1,500 km (930 mi) long Carpathian mountain chain. The pyramidal shape of the massif is marked by a huge cirque. Despite its relatively low elevation, the about 2,000 m vertical rise from the valley floor makes Gerlachovský štít  soar. Mistaken for an average mountain in the rugged High Tatras range in the more distant past, it has since played a symbolic role in the eyes of the rulers and populations of several Central European nations, to the point that between the 19th and mid-20th century, it had four different names with six name reversals. It managed to be the highest mountain of the Kingdom of Hungary, and of the countries of Czechoslovakia and Slovakia within the span of only about two decades of the 20th century.

Gerlachovský štít  shares its geology and ecology with the rest of the High Tatras, but provides a worthwhile environment for biologists as the highest ground anywhere in Europe north of the parallel linking approximately Munich, Salzburg, and Vienna. With the travel restrictions imposed by the Eastern Bloc, the mountain was particularly treasured as the loftiest point available to climb to by Czechs, East Germans, Hungarians, Poles, and Slovaks. It continues to attract its share of visitors although the local authorities have been continually adding new restrictions on access.

The painter 
Stanisław Gałek was a Polish painter and sculptor, and... designer of kilims. In 1896 he graduated from the Vocational School of Wood Industry in Zakopane and then taught in it a drawing, being an assistant to Edgar Kováts . In 1899 he began studies at the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts in the studios of Jacek Malczewski and Jan Stanisławski. A year later, he stopped studying in Kraków and left for Munich , where he began studying at Königliche Kunstgewerbeschule.
Later, he studied at the Paris École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in the studio of Jean-Léon Gérôme.
In 1910, he left to create in Italy and the Crimea . In 1912 he received the work of a drawing teacher at a vocational school in Kołomyja, from where he returned to Zakopane in 1916 and again began to teach at the School of Wood Industry.
From 1931, he devoted himself only to painting.
 He exhibited his works for the first time in 1900, he was a regular participant in exhibitions organized by the Krakow Society of Friends of Fine Arts and from 1907 by the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts. He took part in an international exhibition organized in 1910 in Berlin, and in 1929 in the Poznań Universal National Exhibition. In 1930 he exhibited in Budapest and Vienna.  In 1960, the Warsaw Zachęta exhibition hosted an individual jubilee exhibition showing the full artistic output of Stanisław Gałek. He was one of the most outstanding painters showing the Tatras , especially the area around Morskie Oko.
In addition, he carved and designed patterns of kilims for the Kilim association in Zakopane.

_______________________________
2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

MIELUSZOWIECKI PEAK CZERNY BY STANISLAW GALEK

STANISLAW GALEK (1876-1961)   

 Mieluszowiecki Peak Czarny (2,410m - 7,906ft ) 

Poland - Slovakia border

In Tatry,  1901, oil on canvas, National Museum Krakovia

The mountain 
 Mieluszowiecki Peak Czarny (2,410m - 7,906ft )  meaning  The Black Mountain peak is a summit in the High Tatras located on the Polish-Slovak border, in the main ridge of the Tatras.
The summit was formerly called the Młyguszуw Peak over Czarny. Its walls fall with half a kilometer perches towards this lake. The north-eastern perch is finished by Kazalnica Mięguszowiecka, from which a famous north-east wall , erected vertically and cut by eaves, descends. The eastern wall (about 300 m high) falls in the direction of the Upper Devil's Kotta , whose basin is bounded by the north-eastern roost of the Mieguszowiecki Black Peak and the cliffs descending from the walls of Beef Ridge. In the north-west ridge, falling in the direction of Mięguszowiecka Przełęcz pod Chłopkiem, there is a lonely turkey called Chłopek (hence the name of the pass).

The painter 
Stanisław Gałek was a Polish painter and sculptor, and... designer of kilims. In 1896 he graduated from the Vocational School of Wood Industry in Zakopane and then taught in it a drawing, being an assistant to Edgar Kováts . In 1899 he began studies at the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts in the studios of Jacek Malczewski and Jan Stanisławski. A year later, he stopped studying in Kraków and left for Munich , where he began studying at Königliche Kunstgewerbeschule.
Later, he studied at the Paris École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in the studio of Jean-Léon Gérôme.
In 1910, he left to create in Italy and the Crimea . In 1912 he received the work of a drawing teacher at a vocational school in Kołomyja, from where he returned to Zakopane in 1916 and again began to teach at the School of Wood Industry.
From 1931, he devoted himself only to painting.
 He exhibited his works for the first time in 1900, he was a regular participant in exhibitions organized by the Krakow Society of Friends of Fine Arts and from 1907 by the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts. He took part in an international exhibition organized in 1910 in Berlin, and in 1929 in the Poznań Universal National Exhibition. In 1930 he exhibited in Budapest and Vienna.  In 1960, the Warsaw Zachęta exhibition hosted an individual jubilee exhibition showing the full artistic output of Stanisław Gałek. He was one of the most outstanding painters showing the Tatras , especially the area around Morskie Oko.
In addition, he carved and designed patterns of kilims for the Kilim association in Zakopane.

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

MOUNT KAZBEK PAINTED BY VASILY VERESHCHAGIN

                                                 VASILY VERESHCHAGIN (1842-1904) 

Mount Kazbek  (5,047m - 16, 558ft)

Russia - Georgia border

In Mount Kazbek, oil on canvas, 1897-98, The Russian Museum, St Pertersbourg

The mountain 
Mount Kazbek  (5,047m - 16, 558ft) or Mkinvartsveri (in Georgian) or Bashlam (in Vainkah)  is a dormant stratovolcano and one of the major mountains of the Caucasus located in the Kazbegi District of Georgia, just south of the border with Russia.  It is the third highest peak in Georgia (after Mount Shkhara and Janga) and the seventh highest summit in the Caucasus Mountains.  Kazbek is also the second highest volcanic summit in the Caucasus, after Mount Elbrus. The summit lies directly to the west of the town of Stepantsminda and is the most prominent geographic feature of the area. Mount Kazbek is the highest peak of Eastern Georgia.
The region is highly active tectonically, with numerous small earthquakes occurring at regular intervals. An active geothermal/hot spring system also surrounds the mountain.
Kazbek is a potentially active volcano, built up of trachyte and sheathed with lava, and has the shape of a double cone, whose base lies at an altitude of 1,770 m (5,800 feet). Kazbek is the highest of the volcanic cones of the Kazbegi volcanic group which also includes Mount Khabarjina (3,142 m).
Owing to the steepness of its slopes, the glaciers of Kazbek are not very large. The total combined area of all of Kazbek's glaciers is 135 kmІ. The best-known glacier is the Dyevdorak (Devdaraki), which creeps down the north-eastern slope into a gorge of the same name, reaching a level of 2,295 meters (7,530 feet). Kazbek's other glaciers include the Mna, Denkara, Gergeti, Abano, and Chata. The recent collapse of the Kolka Glacier, located in a valley between Mt. Jimara and Kazbek in the year 2002 was attributed to solfatara volcanic activity along the northern slope of the mountain, although there was no eruption. In addition to the 2002 event, a massive collapse of the Devdaraki Glacier on the mountain's northeastern slope which occurred on August 20, 2014, led to the death of seven people. The glacier collapse dammed the Terek River in the Daryal Gorge and flooded the Georgian Military Highway.

The painter 
Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin (Васи́лий Васи́льевич Вереща́гин)  transcribed in English as "Basil Verestchagin", was one of the most famous Russian war artists and one of the first Russian artists to be widely recognized abroad. The graphic nature of his realist scenes led many of them to never be printed or exhibited.  In 1864 he proceeded to Paris, where he studied under Jean-Léon Gérôme, though he dissented widely from his master's methods. In the Paris Salon of 1866 he exhibited a drawing of Dukhobors chanting their Psalms. In the next year he was invited to accompany General Konstantin Kaufman's expedition to Turkestan. He was an indefatigable traveler, returning to St. Petersburg in late 1868, to Paris in 1869, back to St. Petersburg later in the year, and then back to Turkestan at the end 1869 via Siberia. In 1871, he established an atelier in Munich, and made a solo exhibition of his works at the Crystal Palace in London in 1873.
In late 1874, he departed for an extensive tour of the Himalayas, India and Tibet, spending over two years in travel. He returned to Paris in late 1876
After the war, Vereshchagin settled at Munich, where he produced his war pictures so rapidly that he was freely accused of employing assistants. The sensational subjects of his pictures, and their didactic aim, the promotion of peace by a representation of the horrors of war, attracted a large section of the public not usually interested in art to the series of exhibitions of his pictures in Paris in 1881 and subsequently in London, Berlin, Dresden, Vienna and other cities.
By the late 19th century, Vereshchagin had gained popularity not only in Russia, but also abroad and his name never left the pages of the European and American press. From his earliest works, unlike most contemporary battle pieces depicting war as a kind of parade, Vereshchagin graphically depicted the horrors of war. "I loved the sun all my life, and wanted to paint sunshine. When I happened to see warfare and say what I thought about it, I rejoiced that I would be able to devote myself to the sun once again. But the fury of war continued to pursue me," Vereshchagin wrote. One day, in 1882, Vereshchagin’s exhibition in Berlin was visited by German Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke the Elder. Vereshchagin brought Moltke to his painting The Apotheosis of War. The picture evoked a sort of confusion in the Field Marshal. After his visit to the exhibition, Moltke issued an order forbidding German soldiers to visit it. The Austrian war minister did the same. He also declined the artist's offer to let Austrian officers see his pictures at the 1881 exhibition in Vienna free of charge.

MOUNT SINAÏ PAINTED BY JEAN-LEON GERÔME

JEAN-LEON GERÔME  (1824-1904) 

Mount Sinaï or Jabal Musa (2,285 m - 7,496ft) 

Egypt

 In Moïse au Mont Sinaï (Moses in Mount Sinaï), oil on canvas, 1895-1900, Private collection 

The mountain 

Mount Sinaï (2,285 m - 7,496ft) or Jabal Mūsā or Gabal Mūsā (in arab  : "Moses' Mountain" or "Mount Moses"), also known as Mount Horeb or Jebel Musa (a similarly named mountain in Morocco), is a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt that is a possible location of the biblical Mount Sinaï. 

The latter is mentioned many times in the Book of Exodus (and other books of the Bible) and in the Quran. According to Jewish, Christian, and Islamic tradition, the biblical Mount Sinai was the place where Moses received the Ten Commandments (depicted in the Jean-Léon Gérôme painting above).

Mount Sinai is a moderately high mountain near the city of Saint Katherine in the Sinai region. It is next to Mount Katherine (2,629m - 8,625 ft), the highest peak in Egypt. 

Mount Sinai's rocks were formed in the late stage of the Arabian-Nubian Shield's (ANS) evolution. Mount Sinai displays a ring complex that consists of alkaline granites intruded into diverse rock types, including volcanics. The granites range in composition from syenogranite to alkali feldspar granite. The volcanic rocks are alkaline to peralkaline and they are represented by subaerial flows and eruptions and subvolcanic porphyry. Generally, the nature of the exposed rocks in Mount Sinai indicates that they originated from differing depths.

There are two principal routes to the summit. The longer and shallower route, Siket El Bashait, takes about 2.5 hours on foot, though camels can be used. The steeper, more direct route (Siket Sayidna Musa) is up the 3,750 "steps of penitence" in the ravine behind the monastery.

The summit of the mountain has a mosque that is still used by Muslims. It also has a Greek Orthodox chapel, constructed in 1934 on the ruins of a 16th-century church, that is not open to the public. The chapel encloses the rock which is considered to be the source for the biblical Tablets of Stone. At the summit also is "Moses' cave", where Moses was said to have waited to receive the Ten Commandments.

The painter 

Jean-Léon Gérôme  was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as academicism. The range of his oeuvre included historical painting, Greek mythology, Orientalism, portraits, and other subjects, bringing the academic painting tradition to an artistic climax. He is considered one of the most important painters from this academic period. He was also a teacher with a long list of students.
In 1856, he visited Egypt for the first time. Gérômes recurrent itinerary followed the classic grand tour of most occidental visitors to the Orient; up the nile to Cairo, across to Fayoum, then further up the Nile to Abu Simbel, then back to Cairo, across the Sinai Peninsula through Sinai and up the Wadi el-Araba to the Holy land, Jerusalem and finally Damascus. This would herald the start of many orientalist paintings depicting Arab religion, genre scenes and North African landscapes. In an autobiographical essay of 1878, Gérôme described how important oil sketches made on the spot were for him: "even when worn out after long marched under the bright sun, as soon as our camping spot was reached I got down to work with concentration. But Oh! How many things were left behind of which I carried only the memory away! And I prefer three touches of colour on a piece of canvas to the most vivid memory, but one had to continue on with some regret.
He did not only gather themes, artefacts and costumes for his oriental scenes, but also made oil studies from nature for their backgrounds. Several of these quick sketches are filled with details that exceed his wished for three touches of colour.
Gérôme's reputation was greatly enhanced at the Salon of 1857 by a collection of works of a more popular kind : The Duel ; After the Masked Ball (Musée Condé, Chantilly);  Egyptian Recruits crossing the Desert;  Memnon and Sesostris and Camels Watering.