AYU DAG PAINTED BY IVAN AIVAZOVSKY

IVAN AIVAZOVSKY (1817-1900)

Ayu-Dag  (572 m -1,877 ft)

Crimea - Ukraine - Russia 

 In  Mount Ayu Dag, Crimea, 1865, oil on canvas,  National Gallery of Armenia

The Mountain 

Ayu-Dag (572 m -1,877 ft) is a summit of Crimea. It is also known under the Russified name Medved'-gora which means Bear mountain. The summit is located 16 km north-east from Yalta between the towns of Gurzuf (Hourzouf) and Partenit.  The mountain is a laccolith. Today its territory is a Nature reserve (5.5 km2). There is a pioneer children's camp Artek near Ayu-Dag (Medved' Mountain) which is well known internationally. The eastern slopes of Ayu-Dag lead to an ancient settlement Partenit. Remains of an early-medieval settlement and a number of churches were discovered here. In the 9th-10th centuries it was a well-known seaport, bound with cities of the Byzantine Empire. The western slopes lead to Artek.

The painter 

Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (Ива́н Константи́нович Айвазо́вский)  was a Russian Romantic painter. Despite he is considered one of the greatest marine artists in history, he painted a few mountains landscapes.  Aivazovsky was born into an Armenian family in the Black Sea port of Feodosia and was mostly based in his native Crimea.  Following his education at the Imperial Academy of Arts, Aivazovsky traveled to Europe and lived briefly in Italy in the early 1840s. He then returned to Russia and was appointed the main painter of the Russian Navy. Aivazovsky had close ties with the military and political elite of the Russian Empire and often attended military maneuvers. He was sponsored by the state and was well-regarded during his lifetime. The saying "worthy of Aivazovsky's brush", popularized by Anton Chekhov, was used in Russia for "describing something ineffably lovely." One of the most prominent Russian artists of his time, Aivazovsky was also popular outside Russia. He held numerous solo exhibitions in Europe and the United States. During his almost 60-year career, he created around 6,000 paintings, making him one of the most prolific artists of his time. The vast majority of his works are seascapes, but he often depicted battle scenes, Armenian themes, and portraiture. Most of Aivazovsky's works are kept in Russian, Ukrainian and Armenian museums as well as private collections.

- More about Ayakokski 

ASAHI DAKE (旭岳) BY TOSHI YOSHIDA

TOSHI YOSHIDA (1911-1995)  

Asahi Dake (旭岳) (2,291m- 7,516ft) 

Japan 

In Mount Asahi, Daisetsuzan, 1984  woodblock print, 1984

The mountain 
Asahi Dake (2,291m- 7,516ft) , in Japanese 旭岳, is a mountain located in the town of Higashikawa, Hokkaido and the tallest mountain in the Japanese island of Hokkaido. It is part of the Daisetsuzan Volcanic Group of the Ishikari Mountains, it is located in the northern part of the Daisetsuzan National Park. The mountain is popular with hikers in the summer and can be easily reached from Asahidake Onsen via Asahidake Ropeway. During winter, the mountain is open for use by skiers and snowboarders. Sugatami Pond, directly below the peak, is famous for its reflection of the peaks, snow, and steam escaping from the volcanic vents.
Mount Asahi is an active stratovolcano that arose 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) southwest of the Ohachi-Daira caldera. The Japan Meteorological Agency gave the region rank C in volcanic activity. In addition to the main peak, there is a smaller volcano emerging from the southeast shoulder of the mountain, Mount Ushiro Asahi or Rear Mount Asahi (後旭岳).
Asahi Dake  is a stratovolcano consisting mainly of andesite and dacite, Holocene volcanic non-alkali mafic rock less than 18,000 years old.
There is no historical record of the eruptions of Mount Asahi.
- 3200 BC ± 75 years, Asahi Soria deposit, corrected radiocarbon dating, explosive eruption
- 2800 BC ± 100 years, As-A tephra, corrected radiocarbon dating,explosive eruption and phreatic explosions
- 1450 BC ± 50 years, As-B tephra, uncorrected radiocarbon dating, explosive eruption and phreatic explosions
- 500 BC ± 50 years, Ash-b tephra, tephrochonology, explosive eruption and phreatic explosions and debris avalanches
- 1739, tephrochronology, explosive eruption and phreatic explosions with possible eruption of the central vent and radial good
Mount Asahi currently exhibits steam activity in the form of fumaroles.

The artist 
Tōshi Yoshida (吉田 遠志), was a Japanese printmaking artist associated with the sōsaku-hanga movement, and son of famous shin-hanga artist Hiroshi Yoshida. One of Yoshida's legs was paralysed during his early childhood. Not being able to attend school, he enjoyed watching animals and his father's printmaking workshop. Encouraged by his grandmother Rui Yoshida, Tōshi often sketched animals. Yoshida's artistic career was a long struggle between fidelity to his father's legacy and freedom from it. Hiroshi Yoshida, a shin-hanga landscape artist, dictated Tōshi's early artistic development. In 1926, Tōshi chose animals as his primary subjects to distinguish himself from his father, who was a landscape printmaker. However, in the 1930s, Tōshi started making landscape paintings and prints similar to his father's works. Father and son traveled together and even painted side by side. From 1930 to 1931, Hiroshi and Tōshi traveled to India, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Calcutta, and Burma.
- More about Toshi Yoshida

HOHER DACHSTEIN BY CARL ROTTMANN

CARL ROTTMANN (1797-1850) 

Hoher Dachstein (2, 995m - 9,826ft)

 Austria 

In Dachstein from the South, 1839, oil on canvas, Pushkin Museum

The mountain 

Hoher Dachstein (2, 995m - 9,826ft) is a strongly karstic Austrian mountain, and the second highest mountain in the Northern Limestone Alps. It is situated at the border of Upper Austria and Styria in central Austria, and is the highest point in each of those states. Parts of the massif also lie in the state of Salzburg, leading to the mountain being referred to as the Drei-Lander-Berg ("three-state mountain"). The Dachstein massif covers an area of around 20x30 km with dozens of peaks above 2,500 m, the highest of which are in the southern and south-western areas. Seen from the north, the Dachstein massif is dominated by the glaciers with the rocky summits rising beyond them. By contrast, to the south, the mountain drops almost vertically to the valley floor (see above).

The summit was first reached in 1832 by Peter Gappmayr, via the Gosau glacier, after an earlier attempt by Erzherzog Karl via the Hallstätter glacier had failed. Within two years of Gappmayr's success a wooden cross had been erected at the summit. The first person to reach the summit in winter was Friedrich Simony, on 14 January 1847. The sheer southern face was first climbed on 22 September 1909 by the brothers Irg and Franz Steiner.
Being the highest point of two different Bundesländer, the summit is a popular goal in both summer and winter. In fine weather as many as 100 climbers may be attempting the ascent, leading to congestion at key sections of the climb.

The painter 
Carl Anton Joseph Rottmann was a German landscape painter and the most famous member of the Rottmann family of painters. Rottmann belonged to the circle of artists around the Ludwig I of Bavaria, who commissioned large landscape paintings exclusively from him. He is best known for mythical and heroising landscapes. The landscape painter Karl Lindemann-Frommel belonged to his school. Rottmann  received his first drawing lessons from his father, Friedrich Rottmann, who taught drawing at the university in Heidelberg. He formed himself chiefly through the study of nature and of great masterworks. In his first artistic period, he painted atmospheric phenomena. After gaining prominence with Heidelberg at Sunset (a water color), and Castle Eltz, he settled in Munich in 1822 and devoted himself to Bavarian scenery. Here his second period began, and in 1824 he married Friedericke, the daughter of his uncle, Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell, who served as an attendant at court. Through this connection, he made the acquaintance of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, who in 1826/27 sponsored his travels in Italy in order to widen his repertoire, which up to that point consisted solely of domestic, German, landscapes. In Italy, Rottmann made sketches for the 28 Italian landscapes in fresco which he was commissioned to paint in the arcades of the Hofgarten at Munich. The cycle, completed in 1833, gave visual expression to Ludwig’s alliance with Italy, and raised the genre of landscape painting to the height of history painting, the preferred mode of the King’s other great commissions for monumental painting. The frescos unfortunately deteriorated under climatic influences. The cartoons for them are in the Darmstadt Gallery.
In 1834 Rottmann traveled to Greece to prepare for a commission from Ludwig for a second cycle; one might mark here the beginning of his third period. At first also intended for the Hofgarten arcade, the 23 great landscapes were eventually installed in the newly built Neue Pinakothek where they were given their own hall.

TIOGA PEAK PAINTED BY CHIURA OBATA

CHIURA OBATA (1885–1975)

Tioga Peak (3,513m - 11, 326 ft) 

United States of America (California) 

In Tioga peak in Sundown at Tioga, 1930, color woodblock print,
Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) 

The mountain 
Tioga Peak (3,513m - 11, 326 ft) is a prominent mountain that rises at the head of Lee Vining Canyon and north of Tioga Pass a few miles beyond the border of Yosemite National Park. Highway 120 goes right below the south and east slopes as it curves down into Lee Vining Canyon on the way to Mono Lake from Tioga Pass. This is a simple rounded peak composed of metamorphic rock like many of the peaks in the area. It is a very accessible straight forward class 1-2 scramble from Gardisky Lake that can easily be done as a day hike or less. The summit area is a huge rolling dome. Tioga Peak has arguably the best views of the Tioga Pass region. Tioga Peak is in the Inyo National Forest. There are no permits required for hiking.

The artist 
Chiura Obata (小圃 千浦 )  was a well-known Japanese-American artist and popular art teacher.
A self-described "roughneck", Obata went to the United States in 1903, at age 17. After initially working as an illustrator and commercial decorator, he had a successful career as a painter, following a 1927 summer spent in the Sierra Nevada, and was a faculty member in the Art Department at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1932 to 1954, interrupted by World War II, when he spent over a year in internment camps.
After his retirement, he continued to paint and to lead group tours to Japan to see gardens and art.
Posthumous exhibitions of Obata's works have been organized at the Oakland Museum, The Smithsonian Institution, and, in 2000, at the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco, a retrospective of 100 ink and brush paintings, large scrolls and color woodblock prints. In 2007 there was an exhibit in Yosemite National Park. The museum collection at Yosemite National Park contains several Obata prints of the park (see above). The Smithsonian American Art Museum organized an exhibition of Obata's Yosemite woodblock prints, which was shown at the American Art Museum in Washington, DC in early 2008 and then traveled to the Wichita Falls Museum, Wichita, TX (2008) and Federal Hall National Memorial, National Park Service, in New York, NY (2009).

ARENIG FAWR BY JAMES DICKSON INNES

JAMES DICKSON INNES (1887-1914) 

Arenig Fawr  (854m - 2, 892ft) 

United Kingdom (Wales) 

1.   In Arenig Fawr, North Wales, 1911, oil on canvas, The Fitzwilliam Museum.

2.  In Arenig, 1911-1912,  oil on canvas, National Museum Wales, National Museum Cardiff

 3. In Arenig North Wales, 1913  oil on canvas, TATE 

4. In Arenig Mountain, 1911, watercolor,  Arts Council Collection UK 

The mountain 

Arenig Fawr  (854m - 2, 892ft)  which means  Great High Ground is a mountain in Snowdonia, North Wales, located close to Llyn Celyn reservoir alongside the A4212 between Trawsfynydd and Bala. Arenig Fawr is the highest member of the Arenig range with Arenig Fach (Small High Ground), a smaller neighbouring mountain, lying to the north. It is surrounded by Moel Llyfnant to the west, Rhobell Fawr to the south and Mynydd Nodol to the east.

The summit, which is also known as Moel yr Eglwys (Bare hill of the church), has a trig point and a memorial to eight American aircrew who died when their Flying Fortress bomber B-17F #42-3124 crashed on 4 August 1943. Some of the crash wreckage is still scattered across the hillside 300 m (330 yds) from the memorial location. From the summit, with good weather conditions, it is possible to see several notable Welsh mountain ranges: the Rhinogs in the west, Mount Snowdon to the northwest, Clwydian Hills in the northeast, east to the Berwyns, south east to the Arans, and southward to Cadair Idris. It is one of the finest panoramas in Wales.

Artists James Dickson Innes (above) and Augustus John used the mountain as a backdrop during their two years of painting in the Arenig valley between 1911-12. In 2011 their work was the subject of a BBC documentary entitled The Mountain That Had to Be Painted.

In The Faerie Queene, an incomplete English epic poem, by Sir Edmund Spenser, the home of 'old Timon', Prince Arthur’s sage foster-father "is low in a valley greene, Under the foot of Rauran mossy hore". Renowned Welsh historian Sir John Edward Lloyd wrote that Rauran "comes from Saxton's map of Merionethshire (1578), which places ‘Rarau uaure Hill’ (Yr Aran Fawr) where Arenig should be". A boulder at a crossroads in the hamlet of Bell Heath, near to Belbroughton, Worcestershire, in England, has a brass plaque attached to it stating "Boulder from Arenig Mountain in N. Wales, Brought here by the Welsh Ice-sheet in the Glacial Period".

Source: 

-Wikipedia

The painter 

 James Dickson Innes  was a British painter, mainly of mountain landscapes but occasionally of figure subjects. He worked in both oils and watercolours. Of his style, art historian David Fraser Jenkins wrote: "Like that of the fauves in France and the expressionists in Germany, the style of his work is primitive: it is child-like in technique and is associated with the landscape of remote places."

It has been argued his unusual style led the way for British artists such as David Hockney.

He studied at the Carmarthen School of Art (1904–05), from where he won a scholarship to the Slade School of Art in London (1905–08). His teachers at the Slade included P. Wilson Steer.
From 1907 he exhibited with the New English Art Club; and in 1911 he became a member of the Camden Town Group.  The Camden Town Group included Walter Sickert who was an influence on Innes's art, and Augustus John with whom Innes became friends.
In 1911 he had a two-man exhibition with Eric Gill at the Chenil Gallery, London: "Sculptures by Mr Eric Gill and Landscapes by Mr J. D. Innes".
The Welsh politician and philanthropist Winifred Coombe Tennant (1874–1956) was an important patron of his work. In 1913 Innes exhibited in the influential Armory Show in New York City, Chicago and Boston.[3]
In 1911 and 1912 he spent some time painting with Augustus John around Arenig Fawr in the Arenig valley in North Wales(see above); but much of his work was done overseas, mainly in France (1908–1913), notably at Collioure, but also in Spain (1913) and Morocco (1913) – foreign travel having been prescribed after he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Eventually, on 22 August 1914, at the age of twenty-seven, he died of the disease at a nursing home in Swanley, Kent.
In 2014 an exhibition of Innes' works was staged at the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.
Source: 
- National Museum Cardiff

NORGAY MONTES BY NASA NEW FRONTIERS PROGRAM

NASA NEW FRONTIERS PROGRAM (2003-2023) 

By New Horizons Spacecraft (July 14, 2015) 

Norgay Montes (3,400m / 3.4 km -  11,000 ft / 2.1 mi)

Pluto 

In  Pluto - Norgay Montes (left foreground); Hillary Montes (skyline); Sputnik Planitia (right)

Near-sunset view includes several layers of atmospheric haze, NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

The Mountain
The Norgay Montes rise to 3.4 km (2.1 mi; 11,000 ft) high, about twice as high as the Hillary Montes. In comparison, Mount Everest rises 4.6 km (2.9 mi; 15,000 ft) base-to-peak (though to an altitude of 8.8 km (5.5 mi; 29,000 ft) above sea level). Japan's Mount Fuji is closer, at about 3.8 km (2.4 mi; 12,000 ft) in altitude.
The Norgay Montes less officially, Norgay Mountains are icy mountains, near the Hillary Montes,  bordering the southwest region of Sputnik Planitia in the south of Tombaugh Regio (or the part of Tombaugh Regio south of the equator).  The mountains, first viewed by the New Horizons spacecraft on 14 July 2015, and announced by NASA on 15 July 2015, are named after the Nepalese mountaineer Tenzing Norgay, who, along with Sir Edmund Hillary, made the first successful ascent of the highest peak on Earth, Mount Everest (29 May 1953).
Source: 
 - New Frontiers Program Website

The NASA Program
The New Frontiers program is a series of space exploration missions being conducted by NASA with the purpose of researching several of the Solar System bodies, including the dwarf planet Pluto.
The New Frontiers program was developed and advocated by NASA and granted by Congress in CY 2002 and 2003. The exploration program is divided in three major missions:
- New Horizons, a mission to Pluto (photos above), launched on January 19, 2006. After a Jupiter gravity assist in February 2007 the spacecraft continued towards Pluto. The primary mission flyby occurred in July 2015 and the spacecraft was then targeted toward one Kuiper Belt object called '2014 MU69' for a January 1, 2019 flyby.   Just 15 minutes after its closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft looked back toward the sun and captured this near-sunset view of the rugged, icy mountains and flat ice plains extending to Pluto’s horizon (pictures above).
- Juno, a Jupiter exploration mission  launched on August 5, 2011 and arrived in July 2016. It is the first solar-powered spacecraft to explore an outer planet.
- OSIRIS - REx  stands for "Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer".  This mission plan is to orbit an asteroid, at the time named 1999 RQ36 (now 101955 Bennu), by 2020. After extensive measurements, the spacecraft will collect a sample from the asteroid's surface for return to Earth in 2023.
Source: 
 - New Frontiers Program Website 

IBN SINA PEAK / LENIN PEAK IN VINTAGE STAMPS

VINTAGE STAMPS

Ibn Sina Peak / Lenin Peak (7,134 m - 23,406 ft)  

Tajikistan - Kyrgyzstan border 

1. In  Pik Lenin, Soviet Union 1986,  

from the series National Sports Committee Intl. Alpinist Camps- Part 1, courtesy mountainstamps.com collection

2. In Pik Lenin, Kyrgystan 2000, 

from the series International Year of Mountains, courtesy mountainstamps.com collection 

3. In Pik Lenin, Tajikistan 2011,  

from the series Old Steam Locomotives, courtesy mountainstamps.com collection  

The mountain 

Lenin Peak (7,134 m - 23,406 ft)  renamed in July 2006 Ibn Sina Peak or Avicenna Peak, rises in Gorno-Badakhshan on the border of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and is the second-highest point of both countries. It is considered one of the easiest 7000 m peaks in the world to climb and it has by far the most ascents of any 7000 m or higher peak on Earth, with every year seeing hundreds of climbers make their way to the summit.  Lenin Peak is the highest mountain in the Trans-Alay Range of Central Asia, and in the Pamir Mountains in Tajikistan it is exceeded only by Ismoil Somoni Peak (7,495 m). It was thought to be the highest point in the Pamirs in Tajikistan until 1933, when Ismoil Somoni Peak (known as Stalin Peak at the time) was climbed and found to be more than 300 metres higher. Two mountains in the Pamirs in China, Kongur Tagh (7,649 m) and Muztagh Ata (7,546 m), are higher than the Tajik summits.

The peak was discovered in 1871 and originally named Mount Kaufmann after Konstantin Kaufman, the first Governor-General of Turkestan. In 1928, the mountain was renamed Lenin Peak after the Russian revolutionary and first leader of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin. In Tajikistan, the peak was renamed again in July 2006, and today it is officially called in Tajik Qullai Abuali ibni Sino or  Ibn Sina Peak or, alternatively, Avicenna Peak after Abu Ali ibn Sina (Avicenna). In Kyrgyzstan, the peak is still officially called Lenin Chokusu (Lenin Peak).  Some sources give Achiktash as the Kyrgyz name for this 7,134 m mountain on the border with Tajikistan, but it seems that Achiktash, or more properly Achik-Tash, is the name of a plateau and a base camp at an elevation of 3,600 m on a popular northern climbing route to Lenin Peak, which starts in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh, a day's drive north of the border.

Initial exploration of this part of Central Asia occurred in the period 1774–82. Arguably the first recorded travel through the region is the involuntary journey of the slave Filipp Efremov (an ethnic Russian), who escaped from slavery in Bukhara. He crossed the Fergana valley, then via Osh, the Chigirik Pass and Terekdavan Pass he reached the Kashgar and finally came over the Karakorum. He was the first European who crossed the Alai Mountains.

Scientific expeditions to the Alai Mountains began in 1871, when Alexei Pavlovich Fedchenko discovered the Trans-Alai  Range and its main peak. The first geographical expedition which came nearest to the base of the future Lenin Peak in the early 20th century was arguably the expedition of Nikolai Leopol'dovich Korzhenevskiy.

In September 1928, three mountaineers - the Germans Eugen Allwein and Karl Wien, and the Austrian Erwin Schneider - from a Soviet-German scientific expedition, made the first attempt to reach the highest point of the Trans-Alai Range, which at that time had the name Kaufman Peak. At the time, Kaufman Peak was the highest summit reached by men.

The title Lenin Peak was first applied to the highest point of the Trans-Alai Range in the same year (1928). When it was renamed after Lenin it was believed to be the highest point in the USSR.

On September 8, 1934, Kasian Chernuha, Vitaly Abalakov and Ivan Lukin, three members of a Soviet expedition, reached the summit at an elevation of 7,134 metres (23,406 ft). Their attempt lasted for four days with three camps (5700 m, 6500 m and 7000 m). The expedition started climbing from the Achik-Tash canyon in the Alai valley. The summit attempt itself was started along the Western ice slope of the Lenin glacier. They continued climbing along the North Face, passing the rocks that were later given the name Lipkin's Rocks. At the end of the second day they reached the crest of the NE ridge at an elevation of about 6500 m. During the following day and a half they climbed along the NE Ridge and, utterly exhausted, reached the summit.

 In 1937: the third ascent, when eight Soviet climbers under the direction of Lev Barkhash reached the summit by the same route. This was at the beginning of mass political repressions in the Soviet Union and many of the most prominent Soviet climbers, including Lev Barkhash, were brought to trial.

Subsequent attempts to climb Lenin Peak could not begin until 1950, when the USSR began to recover from the Second World War. On August 14, 1950, twelve climbers (V. Aksenov, K, Zaporojchenko, Y. Izrael, V. Kovalev, A. Kormshikov, Y. Maslov, E. Nagel, V. Narishkin, V. Nikonov, V. Nozdryuhin, I. Rojkov) under the direction of Vladimir Racek reached the summit for the fourth time.

In 1954, the route which now is known as the classic route, via the Razdelnaya Peak and NW Ridge, was first climbed  by the team of Soviet climbers under the direction of V. Kovalev (P. Karpov, E. Nagel, V. Narishkin, V. Nozdryuhin).

In 1989, Jaan Künnap, a decorated Estonian mountaineer, reached the top of Lenin Peak. This marked the first time an Estonian flag was flown at an altitude over 7000 m.

In 1960, a group of eight Soviet climbers made a successful direct climb along the North Face (15.08.1960).

There are 16 established routes, nine on the southern side and seven on the northern slopes. The peak is quite popular with climbers due to its easy access and some uncomplicated routes. However, the peak is not without its share of disasters.

 In 1974, an entire team of eight female climbers died high on the mountain in a storm.

In 1990, an avalanche triggered by an earthquake killed 43 climbers.

SERRA DOS ORGAOS BY GEORG GRIMM

GEORG GRIMM (1846-1887) 

 Pedra do Sino (2,263m- 7,425 ft)

Dedo de Deus (1,682m - 5,551ft) 

Escalavrado  (1,490m -4,890 ft) 

Brazil

 In Serra dos Órgãos seen from Teresópolis, 1885, oil on canvas, Private collection 

The mountains 

Pedra do Sino (Bell Rock) at 2,263 metres (7,425 ft),  Dedo de Deus (God's finger) at 1,682m (5,551ft) and  Escalavrado at 1,692 m (5,551 ft) are the highest  peaks int the Serra dos Órgãos  (Organ Range), a mountain range located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and containing the Serra dos Órgãos National Park. The peaks with steep rock walls are dramatic features that can be seen on a clear day from Rio de Janeiro, which is 50 kilometres (31 mi) distant. The Serra dos Órgãos cover san area of 20,024 hectares (49,480 acres). The range is an escarpment on the northern edge of the Guanabara Graben between the cities of Petropolis and Teresopolis. The name comes from perceived resemblance of the vertical rock formations created by erosion to the tubes of organs.

A north west fracture is exposed at the plateau's rock surfaces, which defines the direction of the ridges and valleys along the escarpment. One of these ridges contains several granite peaks including God's Finger. Formation of the rocks may have occurred around 620 million years ago. North east vertical fractures, spaced regularly about every 500 m (1,600 ft), cut the north west structures at right angles. Erosion along these fractures has isolated the massive rock blocks. The valleys have well-preserved deposits of debris that has fallen from the rock walls. In November 1981 a period of intense rain triggered hundreds of shallow landslides and flows of debris that blocked the BR-116 highway and killed about 20 people.

The painter 
Johann Georg Grimm  was a German painter, designer and decorator who is best known for the work he produced during a lengthy stay in Brazil. He worked his way across Bavaria, finally arriving in Munich in 1868, where he had accumulated just enough money to study at the Academy of Fine Arts under Karl von Piloty and Franz Adam. Despite living in a great poverty, he completed his studies successfully. He briefly served in the Franco-Prussian War, where he met the painter Thomas Georg Driendl, who would later join him in Brazil and work with him on several projects.
In 1872, he went on foot to Berlin, where a benefactor helped him to study fresco painting. He left Berlin later that year and headed for Italy. After extensive travels through Italy, North Africa via Sicily, Spain, France and England, he finally found himself in Lisbon and decided to go to Brazil, probably arriving in late 1877 or early 1878. He settled in Rio de Janeiro and soon teamed up with a fellow German immigrant who owned a painting and decorating company. His interest in landscapes began when he was hired by the owners of the nearby fazendas to paint topographical pictures of their properties, which he executed with photographic precision.
He briefly returned to Germany from 1880 to 1881, following the death of his father, then took off travelling again; this time eastward, to Greece, Turkey, Palestine and Egypt. After a stay in Corsica, he returned to Brazil. Shortly after his arrival, he and his old friend Driendl were hired to create decorations at the Liceu Literário Português which, unfortunately, were destroyed by fire in 1932. He then participated in an exhibition presented by the Sociedade Propagadora das Belas Artes, where he displayed the works he had painted after his earlier travel.  He received the Gold Medal and much public praise, which resulted in his appointment to a vacant chair at the Academia Imperial de Belas Artes,  obtained for him with the recommendation of Emperor Pedro II. One of the first things he did there was introduce the practice of plein-air painting.
Continuous disagreements with the Academy's leadership over his teaching methodology led to his resignation in 1884. Some of his students left with him and formed what came to be known as the "Grupo Grimm". It included many artists who would later become very well-known, such as Giovanni Battista Castagneto and Antônio Parreiras. The group had their first exhibition later that year at the Exposição Geral de Belas Artes, and several of them came away with Gold Medals.
Their association lasted only slightly more than a year, then broke up when Grimm was once again struck with wanderlust and moved to Minas Gerais, where he had worked during his first stay in the country. One of his initial projects there involved painting the curtains for the opera house in Sabará.This was followed by a tour of the coffee plantations, where he painted the life and work there as well as the architectural features he had depicted earlier.
During this time, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. In June 1887, already ravaged by the disease, he called together his friends to say goodbye. He stayed for a short time with his brother in Wengen then, following his doctor's advice, went to Merano. Then, seeking a climate that was even more favorable, he went to Palermo. He died at the hospital there and was buried nearby.

XIANGIU PEAK / 翔宇峰 BY WU DACHENG / 吳大成

WU DACHENG / 吳大成 (1835–1902)
Xiangiu Peak / 翔宇峰 in Fragrant Hills (557m - 1,827ft)

China

In  Fragrant Mountains (清吳大澂山水扇面), Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), 

Folding fan mounted as an album leaf; ink on alum paper, The MET 

The Hill 
Xiangiu Peak / 翔宇峰 (557m - 1,827ft) is the highest point of the landscape complex known as The Fragrant Hills (Xiangshan / 象山)  located 25 km north west of Beijing. The park is a cool and appreciated place in summer for those wishing to escape the high temperatures of the capital.  The hills were occupied for the first time under the Jin Dynasty in 1186 and the Xiangshan Temple was built to house the Emperor during his hunting parties. But it is to the Emperor Qianlong that we owe the construction in 1745 of the largest part of the buildings. One can admire the Temple of the Clouds of Azure, the Fountain of Jade, the lake and the Summer Palace… to the skyscrapers of Beijing. Below, the botanical garden crosses the road leading to the Temple of the Lying Buddha (Wofosi). Famous for its five meter bronze lacquered coated Buddha, this temple was built under the Tang Dynasty. The best time to visit this 160 hectare park seems to be the late autumn when the leaves of the trees are dyed yellow and red. In this park, there are also pines, cypresses, maples, ginkos, fragrant orchards (apricots, pears, peaches) and many lilacs, all of which have subtle perfumes and explain the origin of the name of these hills.

The artist
The round, weighty brush strokes borrowed from the study of archaic scripts by late 19th century scholar artists are clearly seen in this fine ink landscape by Wu Dacheng.
As a Qing official, Wu Dacheng was a participant in several important events in 19th century history. When the Qing intervened in Annam in 1884 on behalf of the king against the French, Wu was sent to Tientsin to defend the city against the French attack. As governor of Guangdong, he negotiated customs duties on opium that continued to flow into the country through Canton and Macao, and without success recommended against ceding Macao to the Portuguese. As governor of Henan, he raised the standards of production in the lucrative silk and tea industries. When the Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1894, Wu took troops to defend a strategic northern mountain pass. His troops were defeated and he was dismissed from his post, after which he devoted his leisure to cultivating his talents as poet, calligrapher, seal cutter, connoisseur, collector, epigrapher and painter.

THE CANIGOU BY ALBERT MARQUET

ALBERT MARQUET (1875–1947) 

Canigou (2,784 m- 9,137 ft)

France (Pyrenees) 

 In Le Canigou vu de Vernet-les-Bains, 1940, watercolor on paper, Private collection 

The mountain 

The Canigou (2,784m - 9,137 ft.) is a mountain located in the Pyrenees-Orientales (southern France), south of Prades and north of Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste. Its summit is a quadripoint between the territories of Casteil, Taurinya, Valmanya and Vernet-les-Bains. Its location makes it visible from the plains of Roussillon and from Conflent in France, and as well from Empordà in Spain. Due to its sharp flanks and its dramatic location near the coast, until the 18th century the Canigou was believed to be the highest mountain in the Pyrenees.
Twice a year, in early February and at the end of October, with good weather, the Canigou can be seen at sunset from as far as Marseille, 250 km away, by refraction of light. This phenomenon was observed in 1808 by baron Franz Xaver von Zach from the Notre-Dame de la Garde basilica in Marseille. All year long, it can also be seen, with good weather, from Agde, Port-Camargue and the Montagne Noire.
The mountain has symbolical significance for Catalan people. On its summit stands a cross that is often decorated with the Catalan flag.  Every year on 23 June, the night before St. John's day (nuit de la Saint Jean), day of the summer solstice, there is a ceremony called Flama del Canigó (Canigou Flame), where a fire is lit at the mountaintop. People keep a vigil during the night and take torches lit on the fire in a spectacular torch relay to light bonfires elsewhere. Many bonfires are lit in this way all over the Pyrénées-Orientales, Catalonia, Valencian Community, and Balearic Islands theoretically.

The painter 
Albert Marquet was a French painter, associated with the Fauvist movement. He initially became one of the Fauve painters and a lifelong friend of Henri Matisse. In 1890 Marquet moved to Paris to attend the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs, where he met Henri Matisse. They were roommates for a time, and they influenced each other's work. Marquet began studies in 1892 at the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris under Gustave Moreau, the famous symbolist artist. In 1905 he exhibited at the Salon d'Automne. Dismayed by the intense coloration in these paintings, critics reacted by naming the artists the "Fauves", i.e. the wild beasts. Although Marquet painted with the fauves for years, he used less bright and violent colours than the others, and emphasized less intense tones made by mixing complementaries, thus always as colors and never as grays.
Marquet subsequently painted in a more naturalistic style, primarily landscapes, but also several portraits and, between 1910 and 1914, several female nude paintings.
From 1907 to his death, Marquet alternated between working in his studio in Paris (a city he painted a lot of times) and many parts of the European coast and in North Africa. He was most involved with Algeria and Algiers and with Tunisia. He remained also impressed particularly with Naples and Venice where he painted the sea and boats, accenting the light over water.  During his voyages to Germany and Sweden he painted the subjects he usually preferred: river and sea views, ports and ships, but also cityscapes.
The watercolor of Pyrenees (above) is a rare example of Marquet painting mountains, which was not his favorite subject.
Marquet was particularly revered by the American painters Leland Bell and his wife Louisa Matthiasdottir. He was also revered by Bell's contemporaries Al Kresch and Gabriel Laderman. Since both Bell and Laderman were teachers in several American art schools, they have had an influence on younger American figurative artists and their appreciation of Marquet.
Matisse said ; "When I look at Hokusai, I think of Marquet—and vice versa ... I don't mean imitation of Hokusai, I mean similarity with him".

MOEBIUS PEAK BY VITTORIO SELLA

VITTORIO SELLA (1859-1943)

Moebius Peak (4,916 m-16,130 ft) 

Uganda - Congo border

1. In Moebius peak from the south east ridge of the Alexandra Peak, 1908,  

hand painted photographs, Ruwenzori album

2.  In Moebius peak from the west, 1908, hand painted photographs, Ruwenzori album

The mountain 

Moebius Peak (4,916 m-16,130 ft) is one of the nine peaks constituting Mount Stanley.  The two highest summits are Margherita (5,109 m-16,763 ft)  and Alexandra (5,091m - 16, 703ft) and the others under 5000 m: Albert, Savoia, Elena, Elizabeth, Philip, Moebius and Great Tooth.  
Mt. Stanley was first climbed in 1906 by Duke of the Abruzzi, J. Petigax, C. Ollier, and J. Brocherel. Margherita Peak is named after Queen Margherita of Italy.

Mount Stanley is located in the Rwenzori range or Ruwenzori Range. It is the highest mountain of both the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, and the third highest in Africa, after Kilimandjaro (5,895 m) and Mount Kenya (5,199 m). The peak and several other surrounding peaks are high enough to support glaciers. Mount Stanley is named for the journalist and explorer, Sir Henry Morton Stanley. It is part of the Rwenzori Mountains National Park, a UNESCO world Heritage Site.

The photographer

Vittorio Sella is a mountain italian climber and photographer who took his passion for mountains from his uncle, Quintino Sella, founder of the Italian Alpine Club.  He accomplished many remarkable climbs in the Alps, the first wintering in the Matterhorn and Mount Rose (1882) and the first winter crossing of Mont Blanc (1888).
He took part in various expeditions outside Italy:
- Three in the Caucasus in 1889, 1890 and 1896 where a summit still bears his name;
- The ascent of Mount Saint Elias in Alaska in 1897;
- Sikkim and Nepal in 1899;
- Possibly climb Mount Stanley in Uganda in 1906 during an expedition to the Rwenzori;
- Recognition at  K2  and Chogolisa in 1909 ;
- In Morocco in 1925.
During expeditions in Alaska, Uganda and Karakoram (K2), he accompanied the Duke of Abruzzi, Prince Luigi Amedeo di Savoia.

- More informations about Vittorio Sella 

MOUNT KENYA PAINTED BY AKSELI GALLEN-KALLELA

AKSELI GALLEN-KALLELA (1865-1931) 

Mount Kenya (5,199 m -17,057 ft) 

Kenya 

1. In  Mount Kenya, November 1909, oil on canvas, Private collection 

2. In  Mount Kenya, 1910, oil on canvas, Private collection 

The mountain 
Mount Kenya  (5,199 m -17,057 ft)  is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second-highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro. The origin of the name Kenya is not clear, but perhaps linked to the Kikuyu, Embu and Kamba words Kirinyaga, Kirenyaa and Kiinyaa which mean "God's resting place" in all three languages.  Mount Kenya is located in central Kenya, about 16.5 kilometres (10.3 mi) south of the equator, around 150 kilometres (93 mi) north-northeast of the capital Nairobi.
Mount Kenya is the source of the name of the Republic of Kenya.
Mount Kenya is a stratovolcano created approximately 3 million years after the opening of the East African rift.   Before glaciation, it was 7,000 m (23,000 ft) high. It was covered by an ice cap for thousands of years. This has resulted in very eroded slopes and numerous valleys radiating from the centre.  There are currently 11 small glaciers and 8 peaks of which the highest are : Batian (5,199 m -  (17,057 ft), Nelion (5,188 m - 17,021 ft)) and Point Lenana (4,985 m - 16,355 ft).   The forested slopes are an important source of water for much of Kenya (...)

The painter 
Akseli Gallen-Kallela was a Swedish-speaking Finnish painter who is best known for his illustrations of the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic. His work was considered very important for the Finnish national identity. He changed his name from Gallen to Gallen-Kallela in 1907. In 1884 he moved to Paris, to study at the Académie Julian and became friends with the Finnish painter Albert Edelfelt, the Norwegian painter Adam Dörnberger, and the Swedish writer August Strindberg.
In December 1894, Gallen-Kallela moved to Berlin to oversee the joint exhibition of his works with the works of Norwegian painter Edvard Munch. Here he became acquainted with the Symbolists.
On his return from Germany, Gallen studied print-making and visited London to deepen his knowledge, and in 1898 studied fresco-painting in Italy.
For the Paris World Fair in 1900, Gallen-Kallela painted frescoes for the Finnish Pavilion. In these frescoes, his political ideas became most apparent (...)

_______________________________
2017 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

MOUNT TALLAC PAINTED BY THOMAS HILL

THOMAS HILL (1829-1908) 

Mount Tallac (2,968m - 9, 739ft) 

United States of America (California) 

In  Mount Tallac from Lake Tahoe, 1880, oil on canvas, San Fransisco De Young Museum

The mountain
Mount Tallac  (2,968m - 9, 739ft) is a mountain peak southwest of Lake Tahoe, in El Dorado County, California. The peak lies within the Desolation Wilderness in the Eldorado National Forest.
Mount Tallac is quite visible from State Routes 89 and 28, and U.S. Route 50.  It is probably the most recognizable of the Tahoe Area peaks. With its distinctive "cross" of snow rising directly above the southwest corner of Lake Tahoe, Mount Tallac commands attention. While neither the highest peak in the area nor the hardest to summit, Mount Tallac nonetheless serves up enough adventure to satisfy nearly everyone.  Compared to the giants of the southern Sierra Nevada, Mount Tallac is a mere child. Still, it stands over 3,500 feet above the surface of Lake Tahoe, and from the summit, one may take in panoramic views of that amazing lake, as well as the enchanting peaks of Desolation Wilderness area. .The views from the summit, as well as the mountain's proximity to highway 89 and its wide selection of terrain types, make Mount Tallac one of the top hiking and backcountry skiing destinations in California.
Geologically, Mount Tallac is situated roughly on the boundary between the granites of the Sierra Nevada batholith, and the earlier metamorphosed sedimentary rocks. The southern and eastern slopes, especially Cathedral Peak, are crumbly, clinky "metaseds", while the other parts of the mountain are a bit more solid, but not Sierran granite, quite like Mount Ritter.
Source:
- Summit post

The painter
Thomas Hill was an American artist of the 19th century. He produced many fine paintings of the California landscape, in particular of the Yosemite Valley, as well as the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Hill’s work was often driven by a vision resulting from his experiences with nature. For Thomas Hill, Yosemite Valley and the White Mountains of New Hampshire were his sources of inspiration to begin painting and captured his direct response to nature.
Hill was loosely associated with the Hudson River School of painters. The Hudson River School celebrated nature with a sense of awe for its natural resources, which brought them a feeling of enthusiasm when thinking of the potential it held. Mainly the earlier members of the Hudson River School, around the 1850-60’s, displayed man as in unison with nature in their landscape paintings by often painting men on a very small scale compared to the vast landscape. Thomas Hill often brought this technique into his own paintings in for example in his painting, Yosemite Valley, 1889.
He made early trips to the White Mountains with his friend Benjamin Champney and painted White Mountain subjects throughout his career. An example of his White Mountain subjects is Mount Lafayette in his Mount Lafayette in Winter.
Hill acquired the technique of painting en plein air. These paintings in the field later served as the basis for larger finished works.
In plein air means to “paint outdoors and directly from the landscape”,[ which Hill incorporated into many of his paintings. Hill’s landscape paintings demonstrate how he combined his powers of observation with powerful motifs in each painting.
Hill’s move to California in 1861 brought him new material for his paintings. He chose monumental vistas, like Yosemite. During his lifetime, Hill’s paintings were popular in California, costing as much as $10,000.  Hill's best works are considered to be these monumental subjects, including Great Canyon of the Sierra, Yosemite, Vernal Falls and Yosemite Valley.
Source: 
- Sullivan Goss An American Gallery 

MACHU PICCHU PAINTED BY GEORGIA O'KEEFFE

GEORGIA O' KEEFFE (1887–1986)

Machu Picchu (2,430 m -7,970 ft)

Peru

1. In Machu Picchu, morning light (Peruvian Landscape), n.d. watercolor on paper (9 x 11 7/8 i.), 

Heckscher Museum of Art

The mountain and site 

Machu Picchu  is a 15th-century Inca citadel situated on a mountain ridge 2,430 m -7,970 ft above sea level. It is located in the Cusco Region, Urubamba Province, Machupicchu District in Peru, above the Sacred Valley, which is 80 kilometres (50 mi) northwest of Cuzco and through which the Urubamba River flows. Machu Picchu lies in the southern hemisphere, 13.164 degrees south of the equator. It is 80 kilometres (50 miles) northwest of Cusco, on the crest of the mountain Machu Picchu, located about 2,430 m-7,970 feet above mean sea level, over 1,000 m-3,300 ft lower than Cusco, which has an elevation of (3,600 m -11,800 ft. As such, it had a milder climate than the Inca capital. It is one of the most important archaeological sites in South America, one of the most visited tourist attractions in Latin America  and the most visited in Peru.

The city sits in a saddle between the two mountains Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu, with a commanding view down two valleys and a nearly impassable mountain at its back.

Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438–1472). Often mistakenly referred to as the "Lost City of the Incas" (a title more accurately applied to Vilcabamba), it is the most familiar icon of Inca civilization. The Incas built the estate around 1450 but abandoned it a century later at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Although known locally, it was not known to the Spanish during the colonial period and remained unknown to the outside world until American historian Hiram Bingham brought it to international attention in 1911.

The Painter
Georgia O’Keeffe is one of the most significant and intriguing artists of the twentieth century, known internationally for her boldly innovative art. Her distinct flowers, dramatic cityscapes, glowing landscapes, and images of bones against the stark desert sky are iconic and original contributions to American Modernism.
Born on November 15, 1887, the second of seven children, Georgia Totto O’Keeffe grew up on a farm near Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. She studied at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1905-1906 and the Art Students League in New York in 1907-1908. Under the direction of William Merritt Chase, F. Luis Mora, and Kenyon Cox she learned the techniques of traditional realist painting. The direction of her artistic practice shifted dramatically in 1912 when she studied the revolutionary ideas of Arthur Wesley Dow. Dow’s emphasis on composition and design offered O’Keeffe an alternative to realism. She experimented for two years, while she taught art in South Carolina and west Texas. Seeking to find a personal visual language through which she could express her feelings and ideas, she began a series of abstract charcoal drawings in 1915 that represented a radical break with tradition and made O’Keeffe one of the very first American artists to practice pure abstraction.
O’Keeffe mailed some of these highly abstract drawings to a friend in New York City, who showed them to Alfred Stieglitz. An art dealer and internationally known photographer, he was the first to exhibit her work in 1916. He would eventually become O’Keeffe’s husband.
In the summer of 1929, O’Keeffe made the first of many trips to northern New Mexico. The stark landscape, distinct indigenous art, and unique regional style of adobe architecture inspired a new direction in O’Keeffe’s artwork. For the next two decades she spent part of most years living and working in New Mexico . She made the state her permanent home in 1949, three years after Stieglitz’s death. O’Keeffe’s New Mexico paintings coincided with a growing interest in regional scenes by American Modernists seeking a distinctive view of America. Her simplified and refined representations of this region express a deep personal response to the high desert terrain.
In the 1950s, O’Keeffe began to travel internationally. She created paintings that evoked a sense of the spectacular places she visited, including the mountain peaks of Peru (see above) and Japan’s Mount Fuji. At the age of seventy-three she embarked on a new series focused on the clouds in the sky and the rivers below....

MOUNT ETNA PAINTED BY CARL ROTTMANN

CARL ROTTMANN (1797-1950) 

                                             Mount Etna or Mongibello (3,329 m - 10,922ft) 

 Italy (Sicily) 

 In Taormina with Mount Etna, 1829, oil on canvas,  Neue Pinakothek Munchen  

The Mountain 

Mount Etna (3,329 m - 10,922ft) or Mongibello, Mungibeddu in Sicilian, Aetna in Latin is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, in the Province of Catania, between Messina and Catania. It lies above the convergent plate margin between the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate. It is the tallest active volcano in Europe. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps. Etna covers an area of 1,190 km2 (459 sq mi) with a basal circumference of 140 km. This makes it by far the largest of the three active volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. Only Pico del Teide in Tenerife surpasses it in the whole of the European–North-African region.  In Greek Mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under this mountain by Zeus, the god of the sky and thunder and king of gods, and the forges of Hephaestus were said to also be located underneath it.

Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and is in an almost constant state of activity. The fertile volcanic soils support extensive agriculture, with vineyards and orchards spread across the lower slopes of the mountain and the broad Plain of Catania to the south. 

Due to its history of recent activity and nearby population, Mount Etna has been designated a Decade Volcano by the United Nations.

 In June 2013, it was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

- More about Mount Etna 

The painter 

Carl Anton Joseph Rottmann was a German landscape painter and the most famous member of the Rottmann family of painters. Rottmann belonged to the circle of artists around the Ludwig I of Bavaria, who commissioned large landscape paintings exclusively from him. He is best known for mythical and heroising landscapes. The landscape painter Karl Lindemann-Frommel belonged to his school.

Rottmann  received his first drawing lessons from his father, Friedrich Rottmann, who taught drawing at the university in Heidelberg. He formed himself chiefly through the study of nature and of great masterworks. In his first artistic period, he painted atmospheric phenomena. After gaining prominence with Heidelberg at Sunset (a water color), and Castle Eltz, he settled in Munich in 1822 and devoted himself to Bavarian scenery. Here his second period began, and in 1824 he married Friedericke, the daughter of his uncle, Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell, who served as an attendant at court. Through this connection, he made the acquaintance of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, who in 1826/27 sponsored his travels in Italy in order to widen his repertoire, which up to that point consisted solely of domestic, German, landscapes. In Italy, Rottmann made sketches for the 28 Italian landscapes in fresco which he was commissioned to paint in the arcades of the Hofgarten at Munich. The cycle, completed in 1833, gave visual expression to Ludwig’s alliance with Italy, and raised the genre of landscape painting to the height of history painting, the preferred mode of the King’s other great commissions for monumental painting. The frescos unfortunately deteriorated under climatic influences. The cartoons for them are in the Darmstadt Gallery.

In 1834 Rottmann traveled to Greece to prepare for a commission from Ludwig for a second cycle; one might mark here the beginning of his third period. At first also intended for the Hofgarten arcade, the 23 great landscapes were eventually installed in the newly built Neue Pinakothek where they were given their own hall.

Of his easel pictures, Ammer Lake and Marathon are in the National Gallery, Berlin; The Acropolis of Sikyon and Corfu in the Pinakothek, Munich; others in the Schack Gallery, Munich, and in Karlsruhe; and seven in the Leipzig Museum.

MOUNT TARAWERA AND THE TERRACES BY CHARLES BLOMFIELD

CHARLES BLOMFIELD (1848-1926)

Mount Tarawera (1, 111m - 3,645ft) 

New Zealand (North Island)

1. In White Terraces,  Lake Rotomahana, 1885, oil on canvas,  Auckland Art Gallery Toi O Tamaki 

2. In  The Terraces, 1886, oil on canvas, Museum of New Zeland Te Papa Tongarewa

3. In Mount Tarawera in eruption on June 1886,  Museum of New Zeland Te Papa Tongarewa

4. In Mount Tarawera after eruption,1900 oil on canvas, Private collection 

The mountain 
Mount Tarawera (1, 111m - 3,645ft) is the volcano responsible for one of New Zealand's largest historic eruptions. Located 24 kilometres southeast of Rotorua in the North Island, it consists of a series of rhyolitic lava domes that were fissured down the middle by an explosive basaltic eruption in 1886, which killed an estimated 120 people. These fissures run for about 17 kilometres northeast-southwest.
The volcano's component domes include Ruawahia Dome, Tarawera Dome and Wahanga Dome. It is surrounded by several lakes, most of which were created or drastically altered by the 1886 eruption. These lakes include Lakes Tarawera, Rotomahana, Rerewhakaaitu, Okataina, Okareka, Tikitapu (Blue Lake) and Rotokakahi (Green Lake). The Tarawera River runs northeastwards across the northern flank of the mountain from Lake Tarawera.
Main eruptions 
- 1315 : Mount Tarawera erupted for the fist time on modern history. The ash thrown from this event may have affected temperatures around the globe and precipitated the Great Famine of 1315–17 in Europe.
- 1886 : Shortly after midnight on the morning of 10 June 1886, a series of more than 30 increasingly strong earthquakes were felt in the Rotorua area and an unusual sheet lightning display was observed from the direction of Tarawera. At around 2:00 am a larger earthquake was felt and followed by the sound of an explosion. By 2:30 am Mount Tarawera's three peaks had erupted, blasting three distinct columns of smoke and ash thousands of metres into the sky (see painting above). At around 3.30 am, the largest phase of the eruption commenced; vents at Rotomahana produced a pyroclastic surge that destroyed several villages within a 6 kilometre radius, and the Pink and White Terraces appeared to be obliterated.
The eruption was heard clearly as far away as Blenheim and the effects of the ash in the air were observed as far south as Christchurch, over 800 km away. In Auckland the sound of the eruption and the flashing sky was thought by some to be an attack by Russian warships.
Although the official contemporary death toll was 153, exhaustive research by physicist Ron Keam only identified 108 people killed by the eruption. Much of the discrepancy was due to misspelled names and other duplications. Allowing for some unnamed and unknown victims, he estimated that the true death toll was 120 at most.  Some people claim that many more people died.
The eruption also buried many Māori villages, including Te Wairoa which has now become a tourist attraction (Buried Village of Te Wairoa) and the world-famous Pink and White Terraces were lost. A small portion of the Pink Terraces was rediscovered under Lake Rotomahana 125 years later. Approximately 2 cubic kilometres of tephra was erupted, more than Mount St. Helens ejected in 1980. Many of the lakes surrounding the mountain had their shapes and areas dramatically altered, especially the eventual enlargement of Lake Rotomahana, the largest crater involved in the eruption, as it re-filled with water.
Legend
One legend surrounding the 1886 eruption is that of the phantom canoe. Eleven days before the eruption, a boat full of tourists returning from the Terraces saw what appeared to be a war canoe approach their boat, only to disappear in the mist half a mile from them. One of the witnesses was a clergyman, a local Maori man from the Te Arawa iwi. Nobody around the lake owned such a war canoe, and nothing like it had been seen on the lake for many years. It is possible that the rise and fall of the lake level caused by pre eruption fissures had freed a burial waka (canoe) from its resting place. Traditionally dead chiefs were tied in an upright position. A number of letters have been published from the tourists who experienced the event.
Though skeptics maintained that it was a freak reflection seen on the mist, tribal elders at Te Wairoa claimed that it was a waka wairua (spirit canoe) and was a portent of doom. It has been suggested that the waka was actually a freak wave on the water, caused by seismic activity below the lake, but locals believe that a future eruption will be signaled by the reappearance of the canoe.
Source: 
 - National Museum of Natural History

The painter 

 Charles Blomfield  was a New Zealand decorator, artist and music teacher born in London, England.

A widow, Blomfield's mother brought her family to New Zealand in the 1860's intending to settle in Northland as part of a settlement called Albertland. On arrival in Auckland they decided not to proceed on Northland to become farmers but to pursue urban trades in Auckland. The family remained in Auckland after that and many of the descendants of the various children still reside in the Auckland area.

Charles Blomfield lived in Freeman's Bay - 40 Wood Street, in a house built by his brother and allegedly made out of the timber from one large Kauri tree. As well as an exhibiting easel painter Blomfield worked as a sign-writer and interior decorator; for this trade he maintained studios in shops at various times. These were usually on Karangahape Road, one of these was shared with his daughter who made a living painting floral pieces which she also exhibited at the Auckland Society of Arts.

Blomfield travelled throughout the centre of the North Island on several occasions in the 1870s and 80s creating many landscape paintings of the New Zealand countryside, often for sale to visitors to New Zealand. He was fortunate to view the famed Pink and White Terraces several times and paint them before they were destroyed by the eruption of Tarawera in 1886. His meticulous sketches and finished paintings are some of the main records of them (see above).  For the remainder of his life he was probably able to rely on new versions of his classic views of them to supplement his income.

His paintings are widely regarded as the epitome of 19th century New Zealand landscape art, although his work, like many of his contemporaries, fell out of fashion during the 20th century, only to be re-evaluated in the 1970s. He was unable to come to terms with developments in art and remained staunchly conservative and hostile to 'modern art'. In his later years he found himself increasingly sidelined by the artistic circles in Auckland which he had previously shone in and was probably embittered by this.

Blomfield died at his residence in Wood Street in 1926. He was survived by several children. One of his brothers, William, was a noted newspaper cartoonist.

 Source : 

- Museum of New Zeland Te Papa Tongarewa