LES ANDES DU SUD PEINTES PAR RHOD WULFARS

RHOD WULFARS (bn. 1979)
Andes du sud (6,991 m - 22, 838ft)
Argentine

In « Twin", acrylic on hardboard, 2018, Private collection 

@rhodwulfars

D'autres œuvres de cet artiste sur son site : rhodwulfars.wixsite.com/rhodwulfars/

L'artiste
Rhod Wulfars est un peintre de montagne contemporain utilisant principalement la technique acrylique pour ses peintures. Il est né en 1979 à Mendoza (Argentine). Sur son site Internet, il écrit : "J'ai passé toute ma vie près des montagnes. Un jour, j'ai commencé à les peindre". Utilisant, à la manière de Nicolas de Staël, un style toujours entre abstrait et figuratif, ses peintures très fortes et très émouvantes décrivent parfaitement la majesté et le contenu spectaculaire des sommets qu'il peint. Rhod Wulfars fait un usage surprenant du médium acrylique, en pâte épaisse comme on pourrait le faire avec de la peinture à l'huile. Il avait l'habitude de ne nommer ses œuvres que par des chiffres et des lettres de série, mais parfois il écrit le nom des sommets et le rend plus facile à identifier.

A propos des tableaux
Le peintre écrit : " Ce n'est pas une vraie montagne. La plupart de mes peintures naissent de la combinaison de l'imagination et des heures passées à les regarder, à les parcourir et à les sentir. Elles ressemblent à ces reliefs de la Cordillera andine argentine appelés "acarreos", qui sont de longues pentes de roche meuble très populaires et facilement visibles. très fréquemment observée. Ce tableau est donc celui d'une montagne inconnue, rêvée qui en résume plusieurs, et qui est sortie de mon inconscient un après-midi où le pinceau lui a donné vie de façon mystérieuse sans que je puisse l'expliquer. " Le plus étonnant étant qu'ils le font d'un seul coup de pinceau aussi puissant et définitif que le soulèvement rocheux lui-même qui a crée ses reliefs.

Les montagnes
Les Andes (Cordillera de los Andes en espagnol) sont la plus longue chaîne de montagnes continentales du monde, formant un plateau continu le long de la bordure ouest de l'Amérique du Sud. Leur étendue est de 7000 km (4350 mi) de long, 200 à 700 km (124 à 435 mi) de large (la plus large entre 18 ° S et 20 ° S de latitude) et d'une hauteur moyenne d'environ 4000 m (13123 pieds). Les Andes s'étendent du nord au sud à travers sept pays d'Amérique du Sud : le Venezuela, la Colombie, l'Équateur, le Pérou, la Bolivie, le Chili et l'Argentine.
La Cordillère des Andes est la plus haute chaîne de montagnes en dehors de l'Asie. La plus haute montagne en dehors de l'Asie, le mont Aconcagua en Argentine, s'élève à une altitude d'environ 6 961 m (22 838 pieds) au-dessus du niveau de la mer. Le pic du Chimborazo dans les Andes équatoriennes est plus éloigné du centre de la Terre que tout autre endroit à la surface de la Terre, en raison du renflement équatorial résultant de la rotation de la Terre. Les plus hauts volcans du monde se trouvent dans les Andes, y compris Ojos del Salado à la frontière Chili-Argentine, qui culmine à 6 893 m (22 615 pieds).
Les Andes font également partie de la Cordillère américaine, une chaîne de chaînes de montagnes (cordillère) qui consiste en une séquence presque continue de chaînes de montagnes qui forment la "colonne vertébrale" occidentale de l'Amérique du Nord, de l'Amérique centrale, de l'Amérique du Sud et de l'Antarctique.

_________________________________________

2023 - Wandering Vertexes ....
Errant au-dessus des Sommets Silencieux...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

 

 

 

PICO DA NEBLINA EN POSTER ANCIEN

POSTER ANONYME (c.1960)
Pico da Neblina (2 995m)
Brésil (Amazonas)

La montagne
Le Pico da Neblina (2 995 m)« pic du brouillard », en français est une montagne brésilienne située dans le nord de l'État d'Amazonas, à proximité de la frontière vénézuélienne. Il s'agit du point culminant du Brésil,. Il donne son nom au parc national du Pico da Neblina, au sein duquel il se situe. Le Pico da Neblina tire son nom des brouillards quasi permanents qui entourent son sommet et qui l'ont rendu presque invisible des rares habitants de la région, jusqu'au milieu du xxe siècle. Le Picoda Neblina se trouve sur la commune de Santa Isabel do Rio Negro, dans l'État brésilien d'Amazonas, mais est situé à environ 180 km du centre de la ville. L'accès en est très difficile, sauf à traverser la jungle amazonienne. En outre, l'autorité de cette lointaine municipalité est supplantée par celle du parc national et de la Réserve Yanomami. La ville la plus proche est en fait São Gabriel da Cachoeira, située à environ 140 km et dont partent toutes les expéditions d'ascensions. Le Pico da Neblina est, par raccourci, souvent considéré comme la frontière entre le Brésil et le Venezuela mais le sommet est en réalité entièrement en territoire brésilien. Le Pico 31 de Março, situé à une distance de seulement 687 m, est, en revanche, à l'exacte frontière entre les deux pays. Son altitude n'est que de 21 m de moins, soit 2 974 m.
Le massif montagneux est compris dans le parc national brésilien Pico da Neblina. Son versant nord est protégé par le parc national Serranía de la Neblina, vénézuélien. Ces deux parcs
représentent, avec l'adjonction du parc national voisin Parima Tapirapecó, une forêt tropicale humide protégée d'environ 80 000 km2, la plus étendue du monde.
Le Pico da Neblina est aussi compris dans la réserve du peuple Yanomami
Le Pico da Neblina étant situé à la fois dans un parc national et sur une réserve Yanomami, l'accès à cette montagne est restreint et soumis à une autorisation spéciale de l'IBAMA (Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources). Seul un guide accrédité peut accompagner les grimpeurs. L'ascension dure quatre jours, dont trois dans la jungle amazonienne où les secours n'ont aucun accès 

______________________________________

2023 - Gravir les montagnes en peinture
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

 

LES ANDES DU SUD PEINTES PAR RHOD WULFARS (bn. 1979)

 

RHOD WULFARS (bn. 1979)
Andes du Sud (6, 991 m - 22, 838 ft)
Argentine

In Andes from Mendoza, 2018, acrylique sur radiographie, 24 x 30cm, Collection de l'artiste

@rhodwulfars
D'autres œuvres de cet artiste sur son site : rhodwulfars.wixsite.com/rhodwulfars/

L'artiste
Rhod Wulfars est un peintre de montagne contemporain utilisant principalement la technique acrylique pour ses peintures. Il est né en 1979 à Mendoza (Argentine). Sur son site Internet, il écrit : "J'ai passé toute ma vie près des montagnes. Un jour, j'ai commencé à les peindre". Utilisant, à la manière de Nicolas de Staël, un style toujours entre abstrait et figuratif, ses peintures très fortes et très émouvantes décrivent parfaitement la majesté et le contenu spectaculaire des sommets qu'il peint. Rhod Wulfars fait un usage surprenant du médium acrylique, en pâte épaisse comme on pourrait le faire avec de la peinture à l'huile. Il avait l'habitude de ne nommer ses œuvres que par des chiffres et des lettres de série, mais parfois il écrit le nom des sommets et le rend plus facile à identifier.

A propos des tableaux
Le peintre écrit : " Ce n'est pas une vraie montagne. La plupart de mes peintures naissent de la combinaison de l'imagination et des heures passées à les regarder, à les parcourir et à les sentir. Elles ressemblent à ces reliefs de la Cordillera andine argentine appelés "acarreos", qui sont de longues pentes de roche meuble très populaires et facilement visibles. très fréquemment observée. Ce tableau est donc celui d'une montagne inconnue, rêvée qui en résume plusieurs, et qui est sortie de mon inconscient un après-midi où le pinceau lui a donné vie de façon mystérieuse sans que je puisse l'expliquer. " Le plus étonnant étant qu'ils le font d'un seul coup de pinceau aussi puissant et définitif que le soulèvement rocheux lui-même qui a crée ses reliefs.

Les montagnes
Les Andes (Cordillera de los Andes en espagnol) sont la plus longue chaîne de montagnes continentales du monde, formant un plateau continu le long de la bordure ouest de l'Amérique du Sud. Leur étendue est de 7000 km (4350 mi) de long, 200 à 700 km (124 à 435 mi) de large (la plus large entre 18 ° S et 20 ° S de latitude) et d'une hauteur moyenne d'environ 4000 m (13123 pieds). Les Andes s'étendent du nord au sud à travers sept pays d'Amérique du Sud : le Venezuela, la Colombie, l'Équateur, le Pérou, la Bolivie, le Chili et l'Argentine.
La Cordillère des Andes est la plus haute chaîne de montagnes en dehors de l'Asie. La plus haute montagne en dehors de l'Asie, le mont Aconcagua en Argentine, s'élève à une altitude d'environ 6 961 m (22 838 pieds) au-dessus du niveau de la mer. Le pic du Chimborazo dans les Andes équatoriennes est plus éloigné du centre de la Terre que tout autre endroit à la surface de la Terre, en raison du renflement équatorial résultant de la rotation de la Terre. Les plus hauts volcans du monde se trouvent dans les Andes, y compris Ojos del Salado à la frontière Chili-Argentine, qui culmine à 6 893 m (22 615 pieds).
Les Andes font également partie de la Cordillère américaine, une chaîne de chaînes de montagnes (cordillère) qui consiste en une séquence presque continue de chaînes de montagnes qui forment la "colonne vertébrale" occidentale de l'Amérique du Nord, de l'Amérique centrale, de l'Amérique du Sud et de l'Antarctique.

_________________________________________

2023 - Wandering Vertexes ....
Errant au-dessus des Sommets Silencieux...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

LES ANDES ARGENTINES PEINTES PAR RHOD WULFARS

 

RHOD WULFARS (né en 1979)
Andes du Sud (6, 991 m - 22, 838 ft)
Argentine

In Andes from Menodza,  acrylique sur panneau dur, 2018, Collection de l'artiste @rhodwulfars
D'autres œuvres de cet artiste sur son site : rhodwulfars.wixsite.com/rhodwulfars/

L'artiste
Rhod Wulfars est un peintre de montagne contemporain utilisant principalement la technique acrylique pour ses peintures. Il est né en 1979 à Mendoza (Argentine). Sur son site Internet, il écrit : "J'ai passé toute ma vie près des montagnes. Un jour, j'ai commencé à les peindre". Utilisant, à la manière de Nicolas de Staël, un style toujours entre abstrait et figuratif, ses peintures très fortes et très émouvantes décrivent parfaitement la majesté et le contenu spectaculaire des sommets qu'il peint. Rhod Wulfars fait un usage surprenant du médium acrylique, en pâte épaisse comme on pourrait le faire avec de la peinture à l'huile. Il avait l'habitude de ne nommer ses œuvres que par des chiffres et des lettres de série, mais parfois il écrit le nom des sommets et le rend plus facile à identifier.

A propos des tableaux
Le peintre écrit : " Ce n'est pas une vraie montagne. La plupart de mes peintures naissent de la combinaison de l'imagination et des heures passées à les regarder, à les parcourir et à les sentir. Elles ressemblent à ces reliefs de la Coridilla andine argentine appelés "acarreos", qui sont de longues pentes de roche meuble très populaires et facilement visibles. très fréquemment observée. Ce tableau est donc celui d'une montagne inconnue, rêvée qui en résume plusieurs, et qui est sortie de mon inconscient un après-midi où le pinceau lui a donné vie de façon mystérieuse sans que je puisse l'expliquer. " Le plus étonnant étant qu'ils le font d'un seul coup de pinceau aussi puissant et définitif que le soulèvement rocheux lui-même qui a crée ses reliefs.

Les montagnes
Les Andes (Cordillera de los Andes en espagnol) sont la plus longue chaîne de montagnes continentales du monde, formant un plateau continu le long de la bordure ouest de l'Amérique du Sud. Leur étendue est de 7000 km (4350 mi) de long, 200 à 700 km (124 à 435 mi) de large (la plus large entre 18 ° S et 20 ° S de latitude) et d'une hauteur moyenne d'environ 4000 m (13123 pieds). Les Andes s'étendent du nord au sud à travers sept pays d'Amérique du Sud : le Venezuela, la Colombie, l'Équateur, le Pérou, la Bolivie, le Chili et l'Argentine.
La Cordillère des Andes est la plus haute chaîne de montagnes en dehors de l'Asie. La plus haute montagne en dehors de l'Asie, le mont Aconcagua en Argentine, s'élève à une altitude d'environ 6 961 m (22 838 pieds) au-dessus du niveau de la mer. Le pic du Chimborazo dans les Andes équatoriennes est plus éloigné du centre de la Terre que tout autre endroit à la surface de la Terre, en raison du renflement équatorial résultant de la rotation de la Terre. Les plus hauts volcans du monde se trouvent dans les Andes, y compris Ojos del Salado à la frontière Chili-Argentine, qui culmine à 6 893 m (22 615 pieds).
Les Andes font également partie de la Cordillère américaine, une chaîne de chaînes de montagnes (cordillère) qui consiste en une séquence presque continue de chaînes de montagnes qui forment la "colonne vertébrale" occidentale de l'Amérique du Nord, de l'Amérique centrale, de l'Amérique du Sud et de l'Antarctique.

_________________________________________

2023 - Wandering Vertexes ....
Errant au-dessus des Sommets Silencieux...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

LES ANDES ARGENTINES PEINTES PAR RHOD WULFARS

RHOD WULFARS (né en 1979)
Andes du Sud (6 991 m - 22 838 pieds)
Argentine

In Andes, acrylique sur panneau dur, 2018, Collection de l'artiste @rhodwulfars
D'autres oeuvres de cet artiste sur son site : rhodwulfars.wixsite.com/rhodwulfars/

L'artiste
Rhod Wulfars est un peintre de montagne contemporain utilisant principalement la technique acrylique pour ses peintures. Il est né en 1979 à Mendoza (Argentine). Sur son site Internet, il écrit : "J'ai passé toute ma vie près des montagnes. Un jour, j'ai commencé à les peindre". Utilisant, à la manière de Nicolas de Staël, un style toujours entre abstrait et figuratif, ses peintures très fortes et très émouvantes décrivent parfaitement la majesté et le contenu spectaculaire des sommets qu'il peint. Rhod Wulfars fait un usage surprenant du médium acrylique, en pâte épaisse comme on pourrait le faire avec de la peinture à l'huile. Il avait l'habitude de ne nommer ses œuvres que par des chiffres et des lettres de série, mais parfois il écrit le nom des sommets et le rend plus facile à identifier. 

A propos des tableaux
Le peintre écrit : " Ce n'est pas une vraie montagne. La plupart de mes peintures naissent de la combinaison de l'imagination et des heures passées à les regarder, à les parcourir et à les sentir. Elles  ressemblent à ces reliefs de la Coridilla andine argentine appelés "acarreos", qui sont de longues pentes de roche meuble très populaires et facilement visibles. très fréquemment observée. Ce tableau est donc celui d'une montagne inconnue, rêvée qui en résume plusieurs, et qui est sortie de mon inconscient un après-midi où le pinceau lui a donné vie de façon mystérieuse sans que je puisse l'expliquer. "  Le plus étonnant étant qu'ils le font d'un seul coup de pinceau aussi puissant et définitif que le soulèvement rocheux lui-même qui a crée ses reliefs. 

Les montagnes
Les Andes (Cordillera de los Andes en espagnol) sont la plus longue chaîne de montagnes continentales du monde, formant un plateau continu le long de la bordure ouest de l'Amérique du Sud. Leur étendue est de  7000 km (4350 mi) de long, 200 à 700 km (124 à 435 mi) de large (la plus large entre 18 ° S et 20 ° S de latitude) et d'une hauteur moyenne d'environ 4000 m (13123 pieds). Les Andes s'étendent du nord au sud à travers sept pays d'Amérique du Sud : le Venezuela, la Colombie, l'Équateur, le Pérou, la Bolivie, le Chili et l'Argentine.
La Cordillère des Andes est la plus haute chaîne de montagnes en dehors de l'Asie. La plus haute montagne en dehors de l'Asie, le mont Aconcagua en Argentine, s'élève à une altitude d'environ 6 961 m (22 838 pieds) au-dessus du niveau de la mer. Le pic du Chimborazo dans les Andes équatoriennes est plus éloigné du centre de la Terre que tout autre endroit à la surface de la Terre, en raison du renflement équatorial résultant de la rotation de la Terre. Les plus hauts volcans du monde se trouvent dans les Andes, y compris Ojos del Salado à la frontière Chili-Argentine, qui culmine à 6 893 m (22 615 pieds).
Les Andes font également partie de la Cordillère américaine, une chaîne de chaînes de montagnes (cordillère) qui consiste en une séquence presque continue de chaînes de montagnes qui forment la "colonne vertébrale" occidentale de l'Amérique du Nord, de l'Amérique centrale, de l'Amérique du Sud et de l'Antarctique.

 _________________________________________

2022 - Wandering Vertexes ....
            Errant au-dessus des Sommets Silencieux...
            Un blog de Francis Rousseau

SOUTHERN ANDES (2) PAINTED BY RHOD WULFARS

 

 

RHOD WULFARS (bn. 1979)
Southern Andes (6,991 m - 22, 838ft)
Argentina

In Somewhere in Andes, acrylic on hardboard, 2018, Private collection @rhodwulfars

About this painting
The painter wrote: “It is not a real mountain. Most of my paintings are born from the combination of the imagination and the hours spent looking, walking and smelling them. I call them "Twins" because they are similar to those reliefs of the Argentinian Andean Coridilla called "acarreos", which are long slopes of very popular loose rock that can be easily viewed. very frequently observed. This painting is therefore that of an unknown mountain, dreamt up which sums up several, and which came out of my unconscious one afternoon when the brush gave it life in a mysterious way without my being able to explain it. "
And indeed this mountain that looks a lot like the Alpamayo in Peru is not the Alpamayo (even if it could be the most famous South West face to be published very soon in this blog) !), any more than it is not the Cerro Poincenot, the Fitz Roy, the Cerro Torre or the Aconcagua, the highest peak in the Andes. These Twins imagined, encompassed, summarized and illustrated all these mountains at the same time. The most amazing being that they do it with a single stroke of the brushes as powerful and definitive as the rocky uplift itself.

The artist
Rhod Wulfars is a contemporary mountain painter using mainly acrylic technique for his paintings.
He was born in 1979 in Mendoza (Argentina). In his website he wrote: "I have spent my whole life by the mountains. On day I started to paint them". Using, in the manner of Nicolas de Staël, a style always beetween abstract and figurative, his very strong and very moving paintings described perfectly the majesty and the spectacular contents of the peaks he paints. Rhod Wulfars makes a surprising use of acrylic medium, in thick paste as one could do with oil paint. He used to named his works only bu numbers, and series letters, but sometime he writes the name of the peaks ans makes it more easy to identify. Other works by this artist on his website : rhodwulfars.wixsite.com/rhodwulfars/

The mountains
The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (Cordillera de los Andes in Spanish ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is 7,000 km (4,350 mi) long, 200 to 700 km (124 to 435 mi) wide (widest between 18°S - 20°S latitude), and has an average height of about 4,000 m (13,123 ft). The Andes extend from north to south through seven South American countries: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina.
The Andes Mountains are the highest mountain range outside Asia. The highest mountain outside Asia, Argentina's Mount Aconcagua, rises to an elevation of about 6,961 m (22,838 ft) above sea level. The peak of Chimborazo in the Ecuadorian Andes is farther from the Earth's center than any other location on the Earth's surface, due to the equatorial bulge resulting from the Earth's rotation. The world's highest volcanoes are in the Andes, including Ojos del Salado on the Chile-Argentina border, which rises to 6,893 m (22,615 ft).
The Andes are also part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges (cordillera) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that form the western "backbone" of North America, Central America, South America and Antarctica.

 ___________________________________________

2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

SOUTHERN ANDES SUMMIT PAINTED BY RHOD WULFARS (bn 1979)

 

 

RHOD WULFARS (bn. 1979)
Southern Andes (6,991 m - 22, 838ft)
Argentina

In Twin, acrylic on hardboard, 2018, Private collection @rhodwulfars

About this painting
The painter wrote: “It is not a real mountain. Most of my paintings are born from the combination of the imagination and the hours spent looking, walking and smelling them. I call them "Twins" because they are similar to those reliefs of the Argentinian Andean Coridilla called "acarreos", which are long slopes of very popular loose rock that can be easily viewed. very frequently observed. This painting is therefore that of an unknown mountain, dreamt up which sums up several, and which came out of my unconscious one afternoon when the brush gave it life in a mysterious way without my being able to explain it. "
And indeed this mountain that looks a lot like the Alpamayo in Peru is not the Alpamayo (even if it could  be the most famous South West face to be published very soon in this blog) !), any more than it is not the Cerro Poincenot, the Fitz Roy, the Cerro Torre or the Aconcagua, the highest peak in the Andes. These Twins imagined, encompassed, summarized and illustrated all these mountains at the same time. The most amazing being that they do it with a single stroke of the brushes as powerful and definitive as the rocky uplift itself.

The artist
Rhod Wulfars is a contemporary mountain painter using mainly acrylic technique for his paintings.
He was born in 1979 in Mendoza (Argentina). In his website he wrote: "I have spent my whole life by the mountains. On day I started to paint them". Using, in the manner of Nicolas de Staël, a style always beetween abstract and figurative, his very strong and very moving paintings described perfectly the majesty and the spectacular contents of the peaks he paints. Rhod Wulfars makes a surprising use of acrylic medium, in thick paste as one could do with oil paint. He used to named his works only bu numbers, and series letters, but sometime he writes the name of the peaks ans makes it more easy to identify. Other works by this artist on his website : rhodwulfars.wixsite.com/rhodwulfars/

The mountains
The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (Cordillera de los Andes in Spanish ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is 7,000 km (4,350 mi) long, 200 to 700 km (124 to 435 mi) wide (widest between 18°S - 20°S latitude), and has an average height of about 4,000 m (13,123 ft). The Andes extend from north to south through seven South American countries: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina.
The Andes Mountains are the highest mountain range outside Asia. The highest mountain outside Asia, Argentina's Mount Aconcagua, rises to an elevation of about 6,961 m (22,838 ft) above sea level. The peak of Chimborazo in the Ecuadorian Andes is farther from the Earth's center than any other location on the Earth's surface, due to the equatorial bulge resulting from the Earth's rotation. The world's highest volcanoes are in the Andes, including Ojos del Salado on the Chile-Argentina border, which rises to 6,893 m (22,615 ft).
The Andes are also part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges (cordillera) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that form the western "backbone" of North America, Central America, South America and Antarctica.

___________________________________________

2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

CERRO EL AVILA PAINTED BY FRITZ MELBYE

 

 FRITZ MELBYE (1826-1896)  

Cerro El Avila / Pico Naiguatá (2,765m - 9,072ft)

Venezuela

 In Vista de Caracas y del Cerro El Avila, oil on canvas

 The mountain
 Pico Naiguatá (2,765m - 9,072ft) is the summit of a mountain called Cerro el Avila in South America near Caracas, Venezuela, part of the Venezuelan Coastal Range, of which it is the highest peak. It is situated on the border of the Venezuelan states Miranda and Vargas. It is the highest point in both of these states and the fourth highest of the Caribbean after Pico Simón Bolivar and Pico Cristóbal Colón of The Santa Marta Coastal range in Colombia and Pico Duarte in the Dominican Republic.
The El Ávila National Park (or Waraira Repano, from an indigenous name for the area) protects part of the Cordillera de la Costa Central mountain range, in the coastal region of central-northern Venezuela. El Ávila National Park is located along the central section of the Cordillera de la Costa mountain system, in the Cordillera de la Costa Central mountain range. El Ávila was declared a park in 1958, fulfilling an interest in its protection that had been prevalent since the 19th century. With its creation came the protection of the forested mountains that surround Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. These mountains now serve as both a recreational area and as a buffer to pollution and urban expansion. El Ávila has always been an important resource for the inhabitants of Caracas, who have used the area for a variety of activities, some of which have threatened its conservation.

The painter 

Fritz Sigfred Georg Melbye  was a Danish marine painter, the brother of Anton Melbye and Vilhelm Melbye who were also marine painters. He traveled widely, painting seascapes, coastal and harbour scenes as well as some landscapes in Europe, the Caribbean, Venezuela, North America and Asia.

In 1849, he set off for the Danish West Indies, settling on Saint Thomas. There he met the young Camille Pissarro whom he inspired to take up painting as a full-time profession. Pissarro became his pupil as well as close friend.

In April 1852, Melbye was on Saint Croix, preparing a trip to Venezuela. Pissarro decided to join him and they spent two years together in Caracas and the harbour city of La Guaira before Pissarro returned to Saint Thomas. Melbye stayed until 1856 and then briefly returned to Europe, living some time in Paris, before traveling to North America where he set up a studio in New York City.

He continued to travel widely, mainly to the Caribbean but also north to Newfoundland. A close friend in New York and frequent travelling companion on his Caribbean travels was the famous American landscape painter Frederick Church who also had a studio in New York.

In 1866, Melbye set off on a journey to the Far East in search of new adventures, leaving his studio in Church's care. In Asia he used Peking as a base for travels around the region which also took him to Japan. He died in Shanghai three years later.

Fritz Melbye initially painted seascapes in the family tradition his brother had taught him, but he increasingly turned to landscapes, coastal and town views with mountains. He preferred a realistic style, often with romantic scenes. He exhibited at Charlottenborg in Copenhagen from 1849-1858.

In Peking he was commissioned to paint the Imperial Summer Palace and during his years in America he exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art.

____________________________________

Wandering Vertexes 2020
A blog by Francis Rousseau 

EL PANECILLO BY ERNEST CHARTON DE TREVILLE

 

ERNEST CHARTON DE TREVILLE (1816-1877),

El Panecillo (3,016 m - 9,895 ft)

Ecuador

In Vista de Quito, Ecuador , 1860, oil on canvas  58 x 90cm, Private collection

The mountain
El Panecillo (3,016 m - 9,895 ft) from Spanish: "bun" is a hill overlooking Quito at the top of which is the statue of the welle known Virgin of Quito. El Panecillo can be seen at the south end of Venezuela Street, one of the longest in the old town. From its summit, one can see the historic battlefield where Marshal Sucre defeated the Spanish in the decisive battle of independence in 1822 on the slopes of the Pichincha volcano to the west.

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 (MNBABA) 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) and Peru .
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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2020 - Wandering Vertexes
A blog by Francis Rousseau

EL PANECILLO & EL PINCHICHA BY RAFEAL SALAS

 

RAFAEL SALAS (1824-1906)

 El Panecillo  (3,016 m - 9,895 ft)

El Pinchicha (4,784 m -15,696 ft)

Ecuador

In Vista de Quito, con la Colina de El Panecillo y el volcàn Pinchacha. oil on canvas, 1849,  

Museo Arocena, Mexico

About the painting
This painting shows in the foreground the old city of Quito (Ecuador) as it was during the first part of the19th century. In the second plan, in the middle of the composition, onecan see the hill of El Panecillo, at the top of which we sat the satute of the virgin of Quito. On the right,  one can see the Pincahacha volcano...

The mountains
El Panecillo  (3,016 m - 9,895 ft)  from Spanish: "bun" is a hill overlooking Quito at the top of which is the statue of the welle known Virgin of Quito. El Panecillo can be seen at the south end of Venezuela Street, one of the longest in the old town. From its summit, one can see the historic battlefield where Marshal Sucre defeated the Spanish in the decisive battle of independence in 1822 on the slopes of the Pichincha volcano to the west.
El Pichincha (4,784 m -15,696 ft) is an active stratovolcano situated in Ecuador. The two highest peaks of the mountain are Wawa Pichincha (Hispanicized spelling Guagua Pichincha meaning child, baby or small and Ruku Pichincha (Hispanicized Rucu Pichincha meaning old person, in Kithwa rujku langage) (4,698 metres (15,413 ft)). The active caldera is in Wawa Pichincha on the western side of the mountain.
Both peaks are visible from the city of Quito and both are popular acclimatization climbs.
In October 1999, the volcano erupted and covered the city with several inches of ash. Prior to that, the last major eruptions were in 1553 and during the Plinian eruption of 1660, when about 30 cm of ash fell on the city of Quito.
In 1737 several members of the French Geodesic Mission to the Equator, including Charles-Marie de La Condamine, Pierre Bouguer and Antonio de Ulloa, spent 23 days on the summit of Rucu Pichincha as part of their triangulation work to calculate the length of a degree of latitude.
On 17 June 1742, during the same mission, La Condamine and Bouguer made an ascent of Guagua Pichincha and looked down into the crater of the volcano, which had last erupted in 1660. La Condamine compared what he saw to the underworld.
On May 24, 1822, General Sucre's southern campaign, in the context of the Spanish-America war of independence, came to a climax when patriot forces defeated the Spanish colonial army on the south-east slopes of this volcano. The engagement, known as the Battle of Pichincha, secured the independence of the territories of present-day Ecuador.
The most recent significant eruption was in August 1998. On March 12, 2000, a phreatic eruption killed two volcanologists who were working on the lava dome.

The painter
Rafael Salas was an important Ecuadorian landscape and genre painter of nineteenth century South America neoclassicism. He was the last son of the famous Salas artists dynasty among which his half brother Ramon Salas ( 1815-1880), the fist professor a t Academy of fine Arts of Quito and responsive for the taste of Costumbrismo; and above all their father Antonio Salas (1795-1860) a colonial artist specialized in religious themes like La Muerte de San José and La Negacion de San Pedro in the Cathedral of Quito
  
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2019 - Wandering Vertexes 
Un blog de Francis Roussea

FUJIYAMA / 富士山 PAINTED BY FRITZ MELBYE

FRITZ MELBYE (1826-1869)

Fujiyama / 富士山 (3, 776 m -12,389 ft)

Japan 

In Marine Painting with Shipping off the Fujijama, Japan, in early Morning Light, oil on canvas, 1869, Private collection 

The mountain
The legendary Mount Fuji (3,776 m - 12,389 ft) or Fujiyama (富士山) is located on Honshu Island and is the highest mountain peak in Japan. Several names are attributed to it: "Fuji-san", "Fujiyama" or, redundantly, "Mt. Fujiyama". Usually Japanese speakers refer to the mountain as "Fuji-san". The other Japanese names for Mount Fuji, have become obsolete or poetic like: Fuji-no-Yama (ふじの山 - The Mountain of Fuji), Fuji-no-Takane (ふじの高嶺- The High Peak of Fuji), Fuyō-hō (芙蓉峰 - The Lotus Peak), and Fugaku (富岳／富嶽), created by combining the first character of 富士, Fuji, and 岳, mountain.
Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–08. Mount Fuji lies about 100 kilometres (60 mi) south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day.
Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone, which is snow-capped several months a year, is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and photographs, as well as visited by sightseers and climbers.
Mount Fuji is one of Japan's Three Holy Mountains (三霊山) along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku. It is also a Special Place of Scenic Beauty and one of Japan's Historic Sites.
It was added to the World Heritage List as a Cultural Site on June 22, 2013. As per UNESCO, Mount Fuji has “inspired artists and poets and been the object of pilgrimage for centuries”. UNESCO recognizes 25 sites of cultural interest within the Mt. Fuji locality. These 25 locations include the mountain itself, Fujisan Hongū Sengen Shrine and six other Sengen shrines, two lodging houses, Lake Yamanaka, Lake Kawaguchi, the eight Oshino Hakkai hot springs, two lava tree molds, the remains of the Fuji-kō cult in the Hitoana cave, Shiraito Falls, and Miho no Matsubara pine tree grove; while on the low alps of Mount Fuji lies the Taisekiji temple complex, where the central base headquarters of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism is located.

The painter
Fritz Sigfred Georg Melbye was a Danish marine painter, the brother of Anton Melbye and Vilhelm Melbye who were also marine painters. He traveled widely, painting seascapes, coastal and harbour scenes as well as some landscapes in Europe, the Caribbean, Venezuela, North America and Asia.
In 1849, he set off for the Danish West Indies, settling on Saint Thomas. There he met the young Camille Pissarro whom he inspired to take up painting as a full-time profession. Pissarro became his pupil as well as close friend.
In April 1852, Melbye was on Saint Croix, preparing a trip to Venezuela. Pissarro decided to join him and they spent two years together in Caracas and the harbour city of La Guaira before Pissarro returned to Saint Thomas. Melbye stayed until 1856 and then briefly returned to Europe, living some time in Paris, before traveling to North America where he set up a studio in New York City.
He continued to travel widely, mainly to the Caribbean but also north to Newfoundland. A close friend in New York and frequent travelling companion on his Caribbean travels was the famous American landscape painter Frederick Church who also had a studio in New York.
In 1866, Melbye set off on a journey to the Far East in search of new adventures, leaving his studio in Church's care. In Asia he used Peking as a base for travels around the region which also took him to Japan. He died in Shanghai three years later.
Fritz Melbye initially painted seascapes in the family tradition his brother had taught him, but he increasingly turned to landscapes, coastal and town views with mountains. He preferred a realistic style, often with romantic scenes. He exhibited at Charlottenborg in Copenhagen from 1849-1858.
In Peking he was commissioned to paint the Imperial Summer Palace and during his years in America he exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

CERROS MARAHUACA, PETACA, DUIDA, HUACHAMACARI BY CHARLES BENTLEY

CHARLES BENTLEY (1805-1854)

Cerro Marahuaca (2, 832m - 9,291ft) 

Cerro Petaca (2,700 m - 8,900 ft).

Cerro Duida (2,358 m - 7,736 ft) 

Cerro Huachamacari (1900m - 6,200 ft) 

Venezuela 

In Esmeralda on the Orinoco - from Views in the Interior of Guiana executed after sketches 

during the expedition carried on in the years 1835 to 1839

The mountains
Cerro Marahuaca (2, 832m - 9,291ft) actually consists of two summit plateaus, the slightly larger northern one going by the Yekwana Amerindian name Fufha or Huha. The southern plateau  is known by two local names; its northwestern edge is called Fuif or Fhuif, whereas its southeastern portion is called Atahua'shiho or Atawa Shisho.

Cerro Petaca (2,700 m - 8,900 ft), is a large forested ridge in Amazonas state, Venezuela. It lies just west of the two high plateaus of Cerro Marahuaca and northeast of the massive Cerro Duida. Part of the Duida–Marahuaca Massif, it is entirely within the bounds of Duida–Marahuaca National Park.
Cerro Duida  (2,358 m- ,736 ft) also known as Cerro Yennamadi, is a very large tepui in Amazonas state, Venezuela. It has a summit area of 1,089 km2 (420 sq mi) and an estimated slope area of 715 km2 (276 sq mi). At its foot lies the small settlement of La Esmeralda, from which the mountain can be climbed.  Cerro Duida  shares a common base with the much smaller (but higher) Cerro Marahuaca located off its northeastern flank, and together they form the Duida–Marahuaca Massif. Both tepuis are entirely within the bounds of Duida-Marahuaca National Park. Sandwiched between them, a massive ridge known as Cerro Petaca.
Cerro Huachamacari ( 1900m - 6,200 ft) also spelled Huachamakari or Kushamakari, is a tepui in Amazonas state, Venezuela. It lies northwest of the giant Cerro Duida and the other peaks of the Duida–Marahuaca Massif. It has a summit area of 8.75 km2 (3.38 sq mi) and an estimated slope area of 60 km2 (23 sq mi).  It is within Duida-Marahuaca National Park.

George Henry Hamilton Tate led a major expedition of the American Museum of Natural History to Cerro Duida in 1928–1929. Named the Tyler-Duida Expedition, it was the first to reach the mountain's summit plateau and the first to climb a tepui of the Venezuelan Amazon. Mount Duida frog was first collected during the expedition and is still not known from anywhere else, although it was formally described only 40 years later. Although primarily a zoological expedition, much plant material was collected. These herbarium collections were studied extensively by Henry Gleason, who formally described many of the mountain's plant species in a series of papers published in 1931. This was followed by a number of important botanical explorations of Cerro Duida, first by Julian A. Steyermark in 1944 and later by Bassett Maguire in 1949 and 1950.

The artist
Charles Bentley was an English watercolour painter of coastal and river scenery. Bentley was born in 1805 or 1806, the son of a master-carpenter and builder living in Tottenham Court Road, London. He was sent to work colouring prints for Theodore Fielding to whom he was eventually apprenticed in order to learn aquatinting. During his apprenticeship he was sent to Paris, probably to assist work on the plates for Excursion sur les Cotes et dans les Ports de Normandie' (Paris, 1823-5), most of which were after watercolours by Richard Bonington.
Bentley painted scenes all over Britain, in Jersey, the north of Ireland, and in Normandy, which he visited several times with Callow between 1836 and 1841. He also exhibited views of Venice, Holland and Düsseldorf, but it is not certain that he actually went to these places, as he is known to have painted works after sketches by other people, such as his paintings of Trebizond and Abydos, shown in 1841 and 1849, based on drawings by Coke Smyth. He also worked up the illustrations for 12 Views in the Interior of Guiana (above)  published by Rudolf Ackermann in 1841, from studies done on an expedition to South America by John Morison.
Bentley was not financially successful: Samuel Redgrave described him as "uncertain in his transactions, and always poor". He died of cholera on 4 September 1854, leaving a widow.
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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

CERRO RORAIMA BY CHARLES BENTLEY

CHARLES BENTLEY (1805-1854) 

 Cerro Roraima (2,810 m - 9,220 ft)

Brazil, Venezuela, Guyana border 

In Roraima (on right)  from  Views in the Interior of Guiana, Tepuy Roraima, lithograph, 1870,  British Library 

The mountain 
 Cerro Roraima (2,810m- 9,220ft) or  Tepuy Roraima  is the highest of the Pakaraima chain of Tepui plateaus in South America. First described by the English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh during his 1595 expedition, its 31-square-kilometre (12-square-mile) summit area is bounded on all sides by cliffs rising 400 metres (1,300 ft). The mountain also serves as the tripoint of Venezuela, Guyana and Brazil. Mount Roraima lies on the Guiana Shield in the southeastern corner of Venezuela's 30,000-square-kilometre (12,000-square-mile) Canaima National Park forming the highest peak of Guyana's Highland Range.
The highest point in Guyana and the highest point of the Brazilian state of Roraima lie on the plateau, but Venezuela and Brazil have higher mountains elsewhere. The triple border point is at 5°12′08″N 60°44′07″W,[6] but the mountain's highest point is Maverick Rock or Maverick Stone, at the southern end of the plateau and wholly within Venezuela.

The artist
Charles Bentley was an English watercolour painter of coastal and river scenery. Bentley was born in 1805 or 1806, the son of a master-carpenter and builder living in Tottenham Court Road, London. He was sent to work colouring prints for Theodore Fielding to whom he was eventually apprenticed in order to learn aquatinting. During his apprenticeship he was sent to Paris, probably to assist work on the plates for Excursion sur les Cotes et dans les Ports de Normandie' (Paris, 1823-5), most of which were after watercolours by Richard Bonington.
Bentley painted scenes all over Britain, in Jersey, the north of Ireland, and in Normandy, which he visited several times with Callow between 1836 and 1841. He also exhibited views of Venice, Holland and Düsseldorf, but it is not certain that he actually went to these places, as he is known to have painted works after sketches by other people, such as his paintings of Trebizond and Abydos, shown in 1841 and 1849, based on drawings by Coke Smyth. He also worked up the illustrations for 12 Views in the Interior of Guiana (above) , published by Rudolf Ackermann in 1841, from studies done on an expedition to South America by John Morison.
Bentley was not financially successful: Samuel Redgrave described him as "uncertain in his transactions, and always poor". He died of cholera on 4 September 1854, leaving a widow.
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2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

CERRO RORAIMA BY CHARLES BARRINGTON BROWN

 

CHARLES BARRINGTON BROWN (1839 -1917)

 Cerro Roraima (2,810 m- 9,220 ft)

Brazil, Venezuela, Guyana border 

In Tepuy Roraima, lithograph, 1870,  British Library 

The mountain 
 Cerro Roraima (2,810m- 9,220ft) or  Tepuy Roraima  is the highest of the Pakaraima chain of Tepui plateaus in South America. First described by the English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh during his 1595 expedition, its 31-square-kilometre (12-square-mile) summit area is bounded on all sides by cliffs rising 400 metres (1,300 ft). The mountain also serves as the tripoint of Venezuela, Guyana and Brazil. Mount Roraima lies on the Guiana Shield in the southeastern corner of Venezuela's 30,000-square-kilometre (12,000-square-mile) Canaima National Park forming the highest peak of Guyana's Highland Range.
The highest point in Guyana and the highest point of the Brazilian state of Roraima lie on the plateau, but Venezuela and Brazil have higher mountains elsewhere. The triple border point is at 5°12′08″N 60°44′07″W,[6] but the mountain's highest point is Maverick Rock or Maverick Stone, at the southern end of the plateau and wholly within Venezuela.

The artist 
Charles Barrington Brown (1839 -1917) is a Canadian geologist and explorer. He studied at Harvard University and the Royal School of Mines. In 1869 and 1872, it took up to 17 days from British Guiana to reach Mount Roraima on the border with Brazil and Venezuela. He is the first to describe the Tök-Wasen, a monolith located at the southern end of the mountain, and to suggest the ascent by a balloon. He is also the discoverer of Kaieteur Falls on the Potaro, a tributary of Essequibo, on April 24, 1870, and New River Springs in 1871.
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2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

PICO NAIGUATA / CERO EL AVILA (2) BY FRITZ MELBYE

FRITZ MELBYE (1826-1896)   

Pico Naiguatá  (2,765m - 9,072ft)

Venezuela 

In Vista de Caracas (2), Venezuela, oil on canvas  1860, 

Museo de Bellas Arte de Caracas

The mountain 

Pico Naiguatá  (2,765m - 9,072ft) is the summit of a mountain called Cerro el Avila in South America near Caracas, Venezuela, part of the Venezuelan Coastal Range, of which it is the highest peak. It is situated on the border of the Venezuelan states Miranda and Vargas. It is the highest point in both of these states and the fourth highest of the Caribbean after Pico Simón Bolivar and Pico Cristóbal Colón of The Santa Marta Coastal range in Colombia and Pico Duarte in the Dominican Republic.

The El Ávila National Park (or Waraira Repano, from an indigenous name for the area) protects part of the Cordillera de la Costa Central mountain range, in the coastal region of central-northern Venezuela. El Ávila National Park is located along the central section of the Cordillera de la Costa mountain system, in the Cordillera de la Costa Central mountain range.  El Ávila was declared a park in 1958, fulfilling an interest in its protection that had been prevalent since the 19th century. With its creation came the protection of the forested mountains that surround Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. These mountains now serve as both a recreational area and as a buffer to pollution and urban expansion. El Ávila has always been an important resource for the inhabitants of Caracas, who have used the area for a variety of activities, some of which have threatened its conservation.




The painter 

Fritz Sigfred Georg Melbye  was a Danish marine painter, the brother of Anton Melbye and Vilhelm Melbye who were also marine painters. He traveled widely, painting seascapes, coastal and harbour scenes as well as some landscapes in Europe, the Caribbean, Venezuela, North America and Asia.

In 1849, he set off for the Danish West Indies, settling on Saint Thomas. There he met the young Camille Pissarro whom he inspired to take up painting as a full-time profession. Pissarro became his pupil as well as close friend.

In April 1852, Melbye was on Saint Croix, preparing a trip to Venezuela. Pissarro decided to join him and they spent two years together in Caracas and the harbour city of La Guaira before Pissarro returned to Saint Thomas. Melbye stayed until 1856 and then briefly returned to Europe, living some time in Paris, before traveling to North America where he set up a studio in New York City.

He continued to travel widely, mainly to the Caribbean but also north to Newfoundland. A close friend in New York and frequent travelling companion on his Caribbean travels was the famous American landscape painter Frederick Church who also had a studio in New York.

In 1866, Melbye set off on a journey to the Far East in search of new adventures, leaving his studio in Church's care. In Asia he used Peking as a base for travels around the region which also took him to Japan. He died in Shanghai three years later.

Fritz Melbye initially painted seascapes in the family tradition his brother had taught him, but he increasingly turned to landscapes, coastal and town views with mountains. He preferred a realistic style, often with romantic scenes. He exhibited at Charlottenborg in Copenhagen from 1849-1858.

In Peking he was commissioned to paint the Imperial Summer Palace and during his years in America he exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art.

PICO CRISTOBAL COLON / CHUNDUAKE IN VINTAGE POSTCARD

VINTAGE POSTCARD 1939

Pico Cristóbal Colón / Chunduake  (5 ,775 m - 18, 947 ft) 

Colombia

The mountain
Pico Cristóbal Colón / Chunduake (5,775 m) is the highest point of Colombia and the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta, probably in front of its neighbor, the Simón Bolívar peak. Because of its equatorial position, it is the fifth highest peak in the world by its height.. It is located about 70 kilometers southeast of Santa Marta, 130 kilometers east of Barranquilla and 700 kilometers north of Bogota, while the border with Venezuela passes 100 kilometers east-southeast . The coasts of the Caribbean Sea are less than 45 kilometers to the north. The altitude of the summit is uncertain, between 5,7003, 5,7304 and 5,775 meters above sea level, very near but probably higher than that of Simón Bolívar peak at 670 meters to the southwest. It is home to an icefield that has been in decline for fifty years.
It is named in homage to Christopher Columbus but among the Arhuacos, the summit is called Chunduake. It is the only one that has an indigenous name in the sierra, the main summits being collectively identified as Chundua (the "mountains" or "dwelling of the dead"), the throne of the god Kakarua Viku.
The first attempt to ascend the Cristóbal Colón peak in 1936 resulted in the death of the mountaineer Hans Lötscher after a fall in a crevasse, while he was accompanied by his compatriot Willy Weber. According to the sources, they are emigrants of German, Swiss or Austrian origin.
In 1939 Walter Wood, Anderson Bakerwell, and E. Praolini succeeded by the eastern edge of the first ascent of the summit, on the occasion of a cartographic expedition organized by the American Society of Geography and conducted by Thomas D. Cabot, 6. The second ascent was made by the Swiss couple Frédéric and Dorly Marmillod in February 1943.
In January 1957, Piero Ghiglione made the first ascent of the south face, alone.
The Cristóbal Colón peak has been protected since 1964 in the Santa Marta Sierra Nevada National Park, which covers 3,830 square kilometers.

CERO EL AVILA / PICO NAIGUATA BY FRITZ MELBYE

FRITZ MELBYE ( 1826-1869) 

 Pico Naiguata (2,765m - 9,072ft)
Venezuela 

In Pico Naiguata, Cerro El Avila, vista de Caracas", 1854, oil on canvas,
Museo de Bellas Arte de Caracas

The mountain 

Pico Naiguatá  (2,765m - 9,072ft) is the summit of a mountain called Cerro el Avila in South America near Caracas, Venezuela, part of the Venezuelan Coastal Range, of which it is the highest peak. It is situated on the border of the Venezuelan states Miranda and Vargas. It is the highest point in both of these states and the fourth highest of the Caribbean after Pico Simón Bolivar and Pico Cristóbal Colón of The Santa Marta Coastal range in Colombia and Pico Duarte in the Dominican Republic.
The El Ávila National Park (or Waraira Repano, from an indigenous name for the area) protects part of the Cordillera de la Costa Central mountain range, in the coastal region of central-northern Venezuela. El Ávila National Park is located along the central section of the Cordillera de la Costa mountain system, in the Cordillera de la Costa Central mountain range.  El Ávila was declared a park in 1958, fulfilling an interest in its protection that had been prevalent since the 19th century. With its creation came the protection of the forested mountains that surround Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. These mountains now serve as both a recreational area and as a buffer to pollution and urban expansion. El Ávila has always been an important resource for the inhabitants of Caracas, who have used the area for a variety of activities, some of which have threatened its conservation.

The painter 
Fritz Sigfred Georg Melbye  was a Danish marine painter, the brother of Anton Melbye and Vilhelm Melbye who were also marine painters. He traveled widely, painting seascapes, coastal and harbour scenes as well as some landscapes in Europe, the Caribbean, Venezuela, North America and Asia.
In 1849, he set off for the Danish West Indies, settling on Saint Thomas. There he met the young Camille Pissarro whom he inspired to take up painting as a full-time profession. Pissarro became his pupil as well as close friend.
In April 1852, Melbye was on Saint Croix, preparing a trip to Venezuela. Pissarro decided to join him and they spent two years together in Caracas and the harbour city of La Guaira before Pissarro returned to Saint Thomas. Melbye stayed until 1856 and then briefly returned to Europe, living some time in Paris, before traveling to North America where he set up a studio in New York City.
He continued to travel widely, mainly to the Caribbean but also north to Newfoundland. A close friend in New York and frequent travelling companion on his Caribbean travels was the famous American landscape painter Frederick Church who also had a studio in New York.
In 1866, Melbye set off on a journey to the Far East in search of new adventures, leaving his studio in Church's care. In Asia he used Peking as a base for travels around the region which also took him to Japan. He died in Shanghai three years later.
Fritz Melbye initially painted seascapes in the family tradition his brother had taught him, but he increasingly turned to landscapes, coastal and town views with mountains. He preferred a realistic style, often with romantic scenes. He exhibited at Charlottenborg in Copenhagen from 1849-1858.
In Peking he was commissioned to paint the Imperial Summer Palace and during his years in America he exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art.

PICO BOLIVAR PHOTO COMPARISON BETWEEN 1950 AND 2011

PHOTO COMPARISON BETWEEN 1950 AND 2011  

Pico Bolívar (4,978 m - 16,332 ft) 

Venezuela

It is forecast that by 2020,  Venezuela will lose all its glaciers,

The mountain 

Pico Bolivar  (4,978 m -16,332 ft) is the highest mountain in Venezuela. Located in Mérida State, its top is permanently covered with névé snow and three small glaciers. It can be reached only by walking; the Mérida cable car, the highest cable car in the world, only reaches Pico Espejo. From there it is possible to climb to Pico Bolivar. The peak is named after the Venezuelan independence hero Simon Bolivar. The Pico Bolнvar is located on the mountain previously called La Columna, next to El Leуn (4,743 m) and El Toro (4,695 m). The new name was suggested by Tulio Febres Cordero in 1925. It was officially renamed on December 30, 1934. 

The height of this prominent Andean peak has been estimated and calculated various times during history. In 1912 one triangular measurement pointed at 5,002 metres. In 1928 came another calcutation at 5,007 metres, which stood as official height for a long time. During the 1990s the scientists Saler and Abad estimated the height, based upon GPS observations to be 4,980.8 metres.  However, no validation was made. New GPS measurements were made in 2002, which stated a height of 4,978.4 ±0.4 metres. These more correct findings were published in 2005.

The final measurement was made by José Napoleon Hernández from IGVSB; Diego Deiros and Carlos Rodriguez from USB and two guides from Inparques. GPS measurements designed for geodetic network consists of the vertices Pico Bolívar, El Toro, Piedras Blancas, and Mucuñuque Observatory, the latter belonging to the Venezuelan Red Geocentric REGVEN. Measurements were temporally equally long and continuous to ensure a greater volume of data over time to make more consistent and reliable information, five  GPS dual frequency receivers were used.

It is estimated that in 1910 the area covered by glaciers was around 10  km2, divided in two large areas, one embracing Picos Bolívar, Espejo and Concha and the other embracing Picos Humboldt and Bonpland. Possibly a small glaciated area covered the northwest side of Pico El Toro.

Aerial pictures taken in 1952 show the glaciated area had already shrunk to 0.9  km2 for the Picos Bolívar, Espejo and Concha and to 2.0  km2 for the Picos Humboldt and Bonpland.

In 2003 almost all the glaciers of the area had disappeared, with the exception of a two small glaciated areas (7.48 Ha on Pico Bolívar and 35.81 Ha on Pico Humboldt). 

It is forecast that at the current rate Venezuela will lose by 2020 all its glaciers, making it the first Andean country without any glaciated area.

First ascent was made by 1935 by Enrique Bourgoin, H. Márquez Molina and Domingo Peña.