MOUNT ELBRUS PAINTED BY RICHARD ZOMMER

RICHARD KARLOVICH ZOMMER (1886-1939)

Mount Elbrus (5,642 m - 18,510 ft)
Russia

The mountain

Mount Elbrus (Эльбру́с) also called  Karachay-Balkar (Минги таy) is the highest mountain in Europe, and the seven highest summit in the world.  The seven summit (which are obviously 8, with  2 in Europe !) are : Mount Everest (8,848m), Aconcagua (6,961m), Mt Denali or Mc Kinley (6,194m),  Kilimandjaro (5,895m), Mt Elbrus (5,642m), Vinson  Massif (4,892m), Mt Blanc (4,807m) and Mount Kosciuszko  (2,228m) in Australia.

Mount Elbrus should not be confused with the Alborz (also called Elburz) mountains in Iran, which also derive their name from the legendary mountain Harā Bərəzaitī in Persian mythology.

A dormant volcano, Elbrus forms part of the Caucasus Mountains in Southern Russia, near the border with Georgia. Elbrus has two summits, both of which are dormant volcanic domes. With its slightly taller west summit, the mountain stands at 5,642 metres (18,510 ft); the east summit is 5,621 metres (18,442 ft). The lower east summit was first ascended on 10 July 1829 by Khillar Khachirov, a Karachayguide for an Imperial Russian army scientific expedition led by General Emmanuel, and the higher in 1874 by an British expedition led by F. Crauford Grove and including Frederick Gardner, Horace Walker, and the Swiss guide Peter Knubel of St. Niklaus in the canton Valais.

While there are differing authorities on how the Caucasus are distributed between Europe and Asia, most relevant modern authorities define the continental boundary as the Caucasus watershed, placing Elbrus in Europe due to its position on the north side in Russia.

Mount Elbrus was formed more than 2.5 million years ago. The volcano is currently considered inactive. Elbrus was active in the Holocene, and according to the Global Volcanism Program, the last eruption took place about AD 50. Evidence of recent volcanism includes several lava flows on the mountain, which look fresh, and roughly 260 square kilometres (100 sq mi) of volcanic debris. The longest flow extends 24 kilometres (15 mi) down the northeast summit, indicative of a large eruption. There are other signs of activity on the volcano, including solfataric activity and hot springs. The western summit has a well-preserved volcanic crater about 250 metres (820 ft) in diameter.

The ancients knew the mountain as Strobilus, Latin for 'pine cone', a direct loan from the ancient Greek strobilos, meaning 'a twisted object' – a long established botanical term that describes the shape of the volcano's summit. Myth held that here Zeus had chained Prometheus, the Titan who had stolen fire from the gods and given it to ancient man – likely a reference to historic volcanic activity.

The Soviet Union encouraged ascents of Elbrus, and in 1956 it was climbed en masse by 400 mountaineers to mark the 400th anniversary of the incorporation of Kabardino-Balkaria, the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic where Elbrus was located.

From 1959 through 1976, a cable car system was built in stages that can take visitors as high as 3,800 metres (12,500 ft). There are a wide variety of routes up the mountain, but the normal route, which is free of crevasses, continues more or less straight up the slope from the end of the cable car system. Winter ascents are rare, and are usually undertaken only by very experienced climbers. Elbrus is notorious for its brutal winter weather, and summit attempts are few and far between. The climb is not technically difficult, but it is physically arduous because of the elevations and the frequent strong winds. The average annual death toll on Elbrus is 15–30, primarily due to "many unorganized and poorly equipped" attempts to summit the mountain. Since 1986, Mt. Elbrus has been incorporated into Prielbrusye National Park, one of the Protected areas of Russia.

In 1997 a team led by the Russian mountaineer Alexander Abramov took a Land Rover Defender to the summit of the East Peak, breaking into the Guinness Book of Records. The project took 45 days in total. They were able to drive the vehicle as high as the mountain huts at The Barrels (3,800 metres (12,500 ft)), but above this they used a pulley system to raise it most of the way. On the way down, a driver lost control of the vehicle and had to dive out.

The second was Kevin Cooney, and the third Patrick Healy.

Regular competitions began to take place since 2005 is a choice of two routes: the classic and extreme. In 2006, on the route of extreme glade Azau (2400 m) - the western summit of Elbrus (5642 m asl) Denis Urubko set a record by winning the tour time 3 hours 55 minutes 59 seconds.

The Pole Aleksandra Dzik won the female competition on this route, becoming both the first woman graduated from extreme gear.

The painter 

Richard Karlovich Zommer  was a Russian royalist and impressionist artist. He was one of the first Russian artists to surrender to the Impressionist tendencies. A painter par excellence, one of his most celebrated works is undoubtedly The Shir-Dor Mosque, Samarkand  auctioned in 2006 at Sotheby's in London on New Bond Street.

Little is known of his life. It is known to have British origins. Inspired by other artists, he made several trips through Central Asia and Eastern Europe. It was during one of these visits that, in 1907, he began to paint, in a territory that today belongs nowadays to Kazakhstan.  Zommer was an Orientalist painter, stricto sensu, he was just painting Muslim communities which were living in territories, parts of the Great Russia of this time.  The style of the painter is full of exoticism and joy, which derive somewhat from his ostentatious palette of colors, very variable and exuberant, and his lighting games deriving from the Impressionist style.

His painting is marked by street scenes in the mostly Muslim territories of Russia, exhibiting bazaars, mosques processions and large crowds, which gives great freedom in color, vividly explored in paintings such as In the bazaar, among others, but also is marked by the desert landscapes in the mountainous Caucasus, an arid and dark environment, which in the pictures of Zommer is usually covered with snow, small streams entwined in muddy land or with picturesque caravans and soldiers of artists crossing it, as in Caravan crossing a river, one of the most outstanding works of his artistic trajectory.

Many of his paintings are known, mostly by the Russian people, but most of the works are in private collections or museums in Russia.

MOUNT LONGONOT BY RAY NESTOR

RAY NESTOR  (1888-1989)

Mount Longonot (2, 776 m - 9, 108 ft)

Kenya 

In Mount Longonot in the background, watercolour, Private collection

The mountain 
Mount Longonot (2, 776 m - 9, 108 ft) is a stratovolcano located southeast of Lake Naivasha in the Great Rift Valley of Kenya, Africa. It is thought to have last erupted in the 1860s. Its name is derived from the Maasai word Oloonong'ot, meaning "mountains of many spurs" or "steep ridges".
Mount Longonot is protected by Kenya Wildlife Service as part of Mount Longonot National Park.
A 3.1 km trail runs from the park entrance up to the crater rim, and continues in a 7.2 km loop encircling the crater. The whole tour (gate-around the rim-gate) of 13.5 km takes about 4–5 hours allowing for necessary rest breaks - parts of the trail are heavily eroded and very steep. The gate is around 2150 m asl and the peak at 2780 m asl but following the jagged rim involves substantially more than the 630 m vertical difference.
A forest of small trees covers the crater floor, and small steam vents are found spaced around the walls of the crater. The mountain is home to various species of wildlife, notably plains zebra, giraffe, Thomson's gazelle, buffaloes and hartebeest. African leopards have also been reported but are extremely difficult to spot.
Mount Longonot is 60 kilometres northwest of Nairobi and may be reached from there by a tarmac road. A nearby town is also named Longonot.
The Longonot satellite earth station is located south of the mountain.

The watercolorist

Ray Nestor was born in India in 1888. He came to Kenya in 1912 as a surveyor and was between 1932 and 1950 farmed at Kipkarren where he did most of his paintings. Ray Nestor modesty as a printer stood between him and the wider recognition of his work. He never courted publicity being content to record his impressions of a fascinating country and its diverse peoples for his own satisfaction and that of his friends. In all his time in Africa, Ray Nestor was seldom without his paints and sketch book, alert to capture the fugitive moment : an old woman in her beads and bangles drawing on her long pipe ; a dhow in full sail beyond the coral reef outside Mombasa harbour ; the stupendous view from his farm house over down and forest, rolling away towards Mount Elgon;

a pair of rhinos threading their way through the bush under the snows of Kilimandjaro.  These sketches are what they claim to be, with all their freshness sponteneity. Ray Nestor died in England in June 1989. 

MOUNT CHOCORUA PAINTED BY ALVAN FISCHER

ALVAN FISCHER (1792-1863)

Mount  Chocorua (1,061m - 3,480 ft)  

United States of America (New Hampshire)  

In Mount Chocorua Pond and Adjacent Scenery 1860, oil on canvas,  Private collection

The mountain 

Mount Chocorua (1,061m - 3,480 ft) is a summit in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the easternmost peak of the Sandwich Range. Although the range is not outstanding for its elevation, it is very rugged and has excellent views of the surrounding lakes, mountains, and forests. Mount Chocorua's bare summit can be seen from almost every direction and can be identified from many points throughout central New Hampshire and western Maine.

It is believed that Chocorua was the name of a Native American man in the 18th century, although no authentic records of his life exist. The usual story is that in about 1720 Chocorua was on friendly terms with settlers and in particular the Campbell family that had a home in the valley now called Tamworth. Chocorua was called away and left his son in the care of the Campbell family. The boy found and drank a poison that Mr. Campbell had made to eliminate troublesome foxes, and Chocorua returned to find his son had died. Chocorua, distraught with grief, pledged revenge on the family. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Campbell returned home one afternoon to find his wife and children had been slain. Campbell suspected Chocorua and pursued him up the mountain that today bears his name. Chocorua was wounded by a shot from Campbell's rifle. Before Campbell could reach Chocorua, he uttered a curse upon the white settlers and their homes, livestock, and crops, and leapt from the summit to his death. There are at least three other versions of the legend of Chocorua... 

Mount Chocorua is a popular destination for hikers. Although it is under 3,500 feet (1,100 m) in elevation, its bare and rocky summit commands excellent views in all directions. Since most trails begin at much lower elevations, a hike to the summit is a strenuous exercise. There are many trails up the mountain, and they can be quite crowded during the summer months. Especially popular are the Piper Trail (4.2 miles (6.8 km) each way from the east), the Champney Falls Trail (from the north), and the Liberty Trail (from the southwest).

The painter 
Alvan Fisher  was one of the United States's pioneers in landscape painting and genre works.
Fisher traveled throughout the northeastern United States searching out sites of landscape beauty such as the views of Springfield, Hartford, and Providence and the spectacular scenery of the White Mountains of New Hampshire. He sketched outdoors and began to compose pastoral scenes in his studio before Thomas Cole or others of the Hudson River School gave serious attention to nature. The Watering Place, 1816, now in the collection of Fruitlands Museum, Harvard, Massachusetts, is his earliest extant pure landscape. His paintings of Niagara Falls, commissioned by Judge Daniel Appleton White of Salem, Massachusetts, were completed following his visit there in 1820.
In April, 1825, Fisher sailed for a tour of the great art centers of Europe. He was the first important American landscapist to make such a tour. He visited England, France, Italy and Switzerland, countries considered important for any artist's professional stature and artistic maturation. In London he visited private collections and was inspired by the composition and subject matter of landscapes by Claude Lorrain. In Paris he studied drawing and made copies of works by the Old Masters at the Louvre. He had evidently met General Lafayette in 1824 when Lafayette stopped at Dedham during his triumphal tour of the United States. Fisher was granted permission to complete paintings of Chateau La Grange, Lafayette's estate outside Paris. His four views of La Grange were then drawn on lithographic stones in France by the noted lithographer Isadore Deroy, and brought back for printing on one of the first lithographic presses used in the United States. Portfolios of these prints were sold as souvenirs building on the popularity of General Lafayette.
Perhaps the greatest recognition of his skill as a landscape artist came one hundred years his death  later when First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy chose his painting, The Remnant of the Tribe, to hang in the Green Room of the White House. The Dedham Historical Society has a collection of his paintings, sketches and biographical material. 

HOHER DACHSTEIN PAINTED BY RUDOLF VON ALT

RUDOLF VON ALT (1812-1905)
Hoher Dachstein (2, 995m - 9, 826ft)

 Austria 

In  Hoher Dachstein from lower Gosau, 1838, watercolour

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.

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

Rudolf Ritter von Alt  was an Austrian landscape and architectural painter. Born as Rudolf Alt, he could call himself von Alt and bear the title of a Ritter (knight) after he gained nobility in 1889.

Born in Vienna, he was the son of the lithographer Jakob Alt (1789–1871) and the brother of the painter Franz Alt (1821–1914). He studied at the Akademie der bildenden Künste in Vienna. Hiking-trips through the Austrian Alps and northern Italy awoke a love for landscapes, and he painted with his brush using watercolors in a very realistic and detailed style. In 1833, inspired by a visit to Venice and neighbouring cities, he also made a number of architectural paintings.

Rudolf von Alt demonstrated a remarkable talent for expressing certain peculiarities in nature. He managed to paint nature authentically by focusing on the different hues of sky, the colour-tone of the air and the vegetation. His later works came closer to Impressionism. 

He visited and worked for a while in Rome and Naples; after that he visited the lakes of Lombardy, then Galicia, Bohemia, Dalmatia, Bavaria and then returned multiple times to Italy. In 1863 he went to the Crimea to paint some views of an estate of the Empress, and in 1867 he went to Sicily.

 Most of his paintings are held by various museums in Vienna. The Albertina in Vienna hosted a retrospective exhibition from September 2005 to January 2006.

MOUNT GILES BY ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902-1959)

ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902-1959)

Mount Giles (1, 389 m - 4, 557 ft)

Australia (Northern territory)

1. In Mount Giles, from Ormiston Pound, 1947, watercolor

The mountain 

Mount Giles (1, 389 m - 4, 557 ft) is one of the highest mountains in the Northern Territory, Australia. It lies along the MacDonnell Ranges, dominating Ormiston Pound, in the West MacDonnell National Park, approximately 80 kilometres (50 mi) west of Alice Springs. It can be visited via the celebrated Larapinta Trail and has views of Mount Sonder, Ormiston Gorge and Pound, and the surrounding range. Climbing the mountain requires a hard two- or three-day hike.

The MacDonnell Ranges is located in the Northern Territory, comprising 3,929,444 hectares (9,709,870 acres). The range is a 644 km (400 mi) long series of mountains located in the centre of Australia, and consist of parallel ridges running to the east and west of Alice Springs. The mountain range contains many spectacular gaps and gorges as well as areas of Aboriginal significance.
The ranges were named after Sir Richard MacDonnell (the Governor of South Australia at the time) by John McDouall Stuart, whose 1860 expedition reached them in April of that year. The Horn Expedition investigated the ranges as part of the scientific expedition into central Australia. Other explorers of the range included David Lindsay and John Ross.
The MacDonnell Ranges are famous to have been often depicted in the paintings by Albert Namatjira.

The  painter 

Albert Namatjira  born Elea Namatjira, was a Western Arrernte-speaking Aboriginal artist from the MacDonnell Ranges in Central Australia. As a pioneer of contemporary Indigenous Australian art, he was the most famous Indigenous Australian of his generation.
Born and raised at the Hermannsburg Lutheran Mission outside Alice Springs, Namatjira showed interest in art from an early age, but it was not until 1934 (aged 32), under the tutelage of Rex Battarbee, that he began to paint seriously. Namatjira's richly detailed, Western art-influenced watercolours of the outback departed significantly from the abstract designs and symbols of traditional Aboriginal art, and inspired the Hermannsburg School of painting. He became a household name in Australia—indeed, reproductions of his works hung in many homes throughout the nation—and he was publicly regarded as a model Aborigine who had succeeded in mainstream society.
Although not the first Aboriginal artist to work in a European style, Albert Namatjira is certainly the most famous. Ghost gums with luminous white trunks, palm-filled gorges and red mountain ranges turning purple at dusk are the hallmarks of the Hermannsburg school. Hermannsburg Mission was established by Lutheran missionaries in 1877 on the banks of the Finke River, west of Mparntwe (Alice Springs). Namatjira learnt watercolour technique from the artist, Rex Battarbee.
Initially thought of as having succumbed to European pictorial idioms – and for that reason, to ideas of European privilege over the land – Namatjira’s landscapes have since been re-evaluated as coded expressions on traditional sites and sacred knowledge. Ownership of country is hereditary, but detailed knowledge of what it ‘contains’ is learnt in successive stages through ceremony, song, anecdote and contact. Namatjira’s father’s country lay towards Mount Sonder and Glen Helen Gorge, in the MacDonnell Ranges, and his mother’s country was in the region of Palm Valley in Central Australia. In Namatjira’s paintings, the totemic connections to his country are so indelible that, for example, Palm Valley the place and Palm Valley, c.1940s, the painting seem to intersect, detailing Namatjira’s artistic, cultural and proprietorial claim on the land.
 One of his first landscapes from 1936, Central Australian Landscape, shows a land of rolling green hills. Another early work, Ajantzi Waterhole (1937), shows a close up view of a small waterhole, with Namatjira capturing the reflection in the water. The landscape becomes one of contrasting colours, a device that is often used by Western painters, with red hills and green trees in Red Bluff (1938). Central Australian Gorge (1940) shows detailed rendering of rocks and reflections in the water. In Flowering Shrubs Namatjira contrasts the blossoming flowers in the foreground with the more barren desert and cliffs in the background. Namatjira's love of trees was often described so that his paintings of trees were more portraits than landscapes, which is shown in the portrait of the often depicted ghost gum in Ghost Gum Glen Helen (c.1945-49). Namatjira's skills at colouring trees can be clearly seen in this portrait. Namatjira was fully aware of his own talent, as was shown when he was describing another landscape painter to William Dargie: "He does not know how to make the side of a tree which is in the light look the same colour as the side of the tree in shadow...I know how to do better."
Namatjira's skills kept increasing with experience as is shown in the highly photographic quality of Mt Hermannsburg (1957), painted only two years before he died.
 In 1957, Namatjira became the first Aboriginal person to be granted conditional Australian citizenship. This entitled him to limited social freedoms and to live in Mparntwe, although he was prohibited from purchasing land. His relations, including his children, were not permitted the same privileges.
After an incident in 1958 that didn’t directly involve the artist, Namatjira was charged with supplying alcohol to members of the Aboriginal community – at the time, it was illegal for all Aboriginal people, except Namatjira, to possess and consume alcohol. Namatjira was sentenced to six months labour at Papunya and this, exacerbated by the authorities’ refusal to allow him to purchase the land of his ancestors, caused him profound despair. He served only two months, and died shortly after.
The more recent, dramatic success of the nearby Papunya Tula movement must be read against the history of its predecessor, the Hermannsburg school, which has endured for over half a century. In 2002, the centenary of Namatjira’s birth was celebrated with a major retrospective at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.

THE POPOCATEPTL BY ALFRED G. BUCKHAM

ALFRED G. BUCKHAM (1879-1956)  

The Popocatépetl (5,426 m -17,802 ft)  

Mexico

In Volcano - Crater of Popocatepetl, 1930, photo, 1930  National Galleries Scotland

The mountain 
Popocatépetl  (5,426 m (17,802 ft) is an active volcano, located in the states of Puebla, Mexico, and Morelos, in Central Mexico, and lies in the eastern half of the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt.  The name Popocatépetl comes from the Nahuatl words popōca  (it smokes) and tepētl  (mountain), meaning Smoking Mountain. It is the second highest peak in Mexico, after Citlaltépetl (Pico de Orizaba) at 5,636 m (18,491 ft).
It is linked to the Iztaccihuatl volcano to the north by the high saddle known as the Paso de Cortés.
Popocatépetl is 70 km (43 mi) southeast of Mexico City, from where it can be seen regularly, depending on atmospheric conditions. Until recently, the volcano was one of three tall peaks in Mexico to contain glaciers,[6] the others being Iztaccihuatl and Pico de Orizaba. In the 1990s, the glaciers such as Glaciar Norte (North Glacier) greatly decreased in size, partly due to warmer temperatures but largely due to increased volcanic activity] By early 2001, Popocatépetl's glaciers were gone; ice remained on the volcano, but no longer displayed the characteristic features of glaciers such as crevasses.
Magma erupting from Popocatépetl has historically been predominantly andesitic, but it has also erupted large volumes of dacite. Magma produced in the current cycle of activity tends to be a mixture of the two.
Climbing route 
The first ascent was made by ameridian Tecuanipas in 1289. Nowadays the easiest way to reach the top is via the north face. It begins at Tlamacas Lodge located at 3947 meters above sea level and accessible from the neck separating the Popocatepetl of Ixtaccihuatl via a paved road. The trail, which passes through Las Cruces and crosses snowfields and glaciers, measuring nearly five kilometers long with a climb of 1453 mètres. The best time to climb is winter and early spring, especially from  December to  April. The first mountain ski descent was conducted by Francisco Gonzalez Rul and Eduardo de Maria y Campos 1947.

The photographer 
 Alfred George Buckham  was a British photographer who specialised in aerial photography. He began his career in photography in 1905 and joined the Royal Naval Air Service as a reconnaissance photographer in 1917. He became the first head of aerial reconnaissance for the Royal Navy in the First World War and later a captain in the Royal Naval Air Service. Buckham was involved in 9 crashes, 8 of which saw him relatively unscathed. After the ninth, however, he had to have a tracheotomy and breathed through a small pipe in his neck for the rest of his life. Despite this, he carried on his aerial photography career, often in very perilous conditions. He felt the best shots were made standing up, writing If one's right leg is tied to the seat with a scarf or a piece of rope, it is possible to work in perfect security.

GUNUNG MERBABU BY ISODORUS VAN MENS

ISODORUS VAN MENS  (1890-1985) 

Gunung Merbabu (3,145m -10, 318ft)  

Indonesia (Java) 

 In The Merbaboe Seen From Salatiga On Semarang, oil on canvas

Gunung  Merbabu  (3,145m -10, 318ft)  is a dormant stratovolcano in Central Java province on the Indonesian island of Java. The name Merbabu could be loosely translated as 'Mountain of Ash' from the Javanese combined words; Meru means "mountain" and awu or abu means "ash".
The active volcano Gunung Merapi is directly adjacent on its south-east side, while the city of Salatiga is located on its northern foothills. A 1,500m high broad saddle lies between Merbabu and Merapi, the site of the village of Selo, Java and highly fertile[citation needed] farming land.
There are two peaks; Syarif (3,119 m) and Kenteng Songo (3,145 m). Three U-shaped radial valleys extend from the Kenteng Songo summit in northwesterly, northeastly and southeastly directions.
Two known moderate eruptions occurred in 1560 and 1797. The 1797 event was rated 2: Explosive, on the Volcanic Explosivity Index. An unconfirmed eruption may have occurred in 1570.
Geologically recent eruptions originated from a North Northwest-South Southeast fissure system that cut across the summit and fed the large-volume lava flows from Kopeng and Kajor craters on the northern and southern flanks, respectively.
Merbabu can be climbed from several routes originating from the town of Kopeng on the north east sideside, and also from Selo on the southern side. A climb from Kopeng to Kenteng Songo takes between 8 and 10 hours.[citation needed]
An area of 57 kmІ at the mountain has been declared a national park in 2004.

6 VIEWS OF VESUVIUS BY PIERRE-JACQUES VOLAIRE

PIERRE-JACQUES VOLAIRE (1720-1799)

Mount Vesuvius (1,281m - 4,203ft)

Italy

 1. In Eruption du Vésuve vue de Portici, 1771, oil on canvas,  MBA de Nantes, France

2.  In Eruption du Vésuve du 14 Mai 1771, oil on canvas,  Karlsruhe, Staalische Kunsthhalle 

3. In Eruption du Vésuve vue de l'Atrio del Cavallo, 1770-90, Château de Maisons, France

 4. In Eruption du Vésuve, baie de Naples, 1785, Getty Center, Los Angeles

5.    Eruption du Vésuve, baie de Naples, 1780, Museum of Fine Arts,  San Franscico 

 6.  Detail  In Eruption du Vésuve du 14 Mai 1771, oil on canvas,  Karlsruhe, Staalische Kunsthhalle 

About the  views of Vesuvius by Volaire 
The views of Vesuvius in eruption  painted by Pierre-Jacques Volaire are sometimes very similar and only slight details differentiate them, such as, for instance, the location of a boat in Portici Bay, or the displacement of a group of fishermen, or the intensity of the magma flow. By examining the paintings in detail, one can note that some characters are very close to the caldera (painting n° 6) ; even fishermen despite the fury of the volcano do not seem to fear the danger  (painting n° 4 & n°5).
On almost every painting the Bay of Naples faces Vesuvius in eruption, often at night, unfolding its flame tongue under a lunar light. Volaire thus achieves a magnificent light effect, resulting from the contrast of the warm tones of the volcano with the cold light of the moon. The presence of groups of characters observing the incandescent magma creates a perspective between the natural element, the characters and the viewer.
One of these paintings (painting n° 3) was commissioned by the Farmer General Jacques-Onésyme Bergeret de Grandcourt, who, guided by Volaire, climbed the volcano, as reported in his travel diary.

The painter 
Pierre-Jacques Volaire (1720-1799)  was a french painter, from a well-known family of painters in Toulon. His own career began workintg at the painting workshop of the naval dockyard of Toulon, when Joseph Vernet arrived in 1754. The latter, recognized artist, got an order of King Louis XV: Ports of France. To make these landscape paintings, he attached the young Volaire. The two painters travelled together for eight years, painting  the ports of Bordeaux, Bayonne, La Rochelle and Dieppe.
Volaire then leaved Vernet to go to Italy, to Naples and he settled there permanently. During his stay, the Chevalier Volaire, as he called himself, worked on landscapes, seascapes and views of Vesuvius. Night scenes became his specialty and the theme of the eruption of Vesuvius, became the almost exclusive subject of the artist's works which met with great success in the eighteenth century. Indeed, the interest shown by his European contemporaries in the extraordinary manifestations of nature leads them to a thorough study of the volcano, which experienced, between 1750 and 1800, an intense activity.
Back in France, the Chevalier Volaire becomes a corresponding member of the Marseille Academy of Painting and Sculpture.  He exhibited in Paris only three times. He was denied official recognition in France when, in 1786, he tried to sell one of his Vesuvius pictures to Louis XVI ; at the time, the work of a landscape painter - especially one who employed sensational effects - was not seen to be very worthy. Volaire also created pastels and drawings, and his works were frequently engraved.

KARAKORAM RANGE PAINTED BY NICHOLAS ROERICH

NICHOLAS ROERICH (1874-1947),

Karakoram at K2 (8,611m - 28,251ft) 

Pakistan - India - China- Afghanistan- Tajikistan 

 In Karakoram from Pakistan, 1925-26, Nicolas Roerich  Museum NY

The mountain range 
The Karakoram is home to the four most closely located peaks over 8000m in height on earth: K2 (8,611 m  -28,251 ft), the second highest peak in the world, Gasherbrum I, Broad Peak and Gasherbrum II. The Karakoram, or Karakorum is a large mountain range spanning the borders of Pakistan, India, and China, with the northwest extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. It is located in the regions of Gilgit–Baltistan (Pakistan), Ladakh (India), and southern Xinjiang (China), and reaches the Wakhan Corridor (Afghanistan). A part of the complex of ranges from the Hindu Kush to the Himalayan Range, it is one of the Greater Ranges of Asia.
The range is about 500 km (311 mi) in length, and is the most heavily glaciated part of the world outside the polar regions. The Siachen Glacier at 76 kilometres (47 mi) and the Biafo Glacier at 63 kilometres (39 mi) rank as the world's second and third longest glaciers outside the polar regions.
The Karakoram is bounded on the northeast by the edge of the Tibetan Plateau, and on the north by the Pamir Mountains. The southern boundary of the Karakoram is formed, west to east, by the Gilgit, Indus, and Shyok Rivers, which separate the range from the northwestern end of the Himalaya range proper as these rivers converge southwestward towards the plains of Pakistan.
The Tashkurghan National Nature Reserve and the Pamir Wetlands National Nature Reserve in the Karalorun and Pamir mountains have been nominated for inclusion in UNESCO in 2010 by the National Commission of the People's Republic of China for UNESCO and has tentatively been added to the list.

The painter 
Nicholas Roerich known also as Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh (Никола́й Константи́нович Ре́рих) is quite an important figure of mountain paintings in the early 20th century.  He was a Russian painter, writer, archaeologist, theosophist, perceived by some in Russia as an enlightener, philosopher, and public figure. In his youth was he was quite influenced by a movement in Russian society around the occult and was interested in hypnosis and other spiritual practices. His paintings are said to have hypnotic expression.
_______________________________
2017 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

MOUNT ADAMS PAINTED BY ALVAN FISCHER

ALVAN FISCHER (1792-1863)
Mount Adams or Patho or Klikitat (3, 473m - 12, 281ft) 

United States of America (Washington State) 

In Mount Adams from the Peabody, 1857, oil on canvas

The mountain

Mount Adams or Patho or Klikitat (3, 473m - 12, 281ft)  is a potentially active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range, USA. Although Adams has not erupted in more than 1,000 years, it is not considered extinct. It is the second-highest mountain in the U.S. state of Washington, after Mount Rainier/Tacoma. Mount Adams is a member of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, and is one of the arc's largest volcanoes, located in a remote wilderness approximately 34 miles (55 km) east of Mount St. Helens. The Mount Adams Wilderness consists of the upper and western part of the volcano's cone. The eastern side of the mountain is designated as part of the territory of the Yakama Nation.

Adams' asymmetrical and broad body rises 1.5 miles (2.4 km) above the Cascade crest. Its nearly flat summit was formed as a result of cone-building eruptions from separated vents. A false summit, Pikers Peak, rises 11,657 feet (3,553 m) on the south side of the nearly half-mile (800 m) wide summit area. The true summit is about 600 feet (180 m) higher on the gently sloping north side. A small lava and scoria cone marks the highest point. Suksdorf Ridge is a long buttress descending from the false summit down to an elevation of 8,000 feet (2,000 m). This structure was built by repeated lava flows in the late Pleistocene. 

Air travelers flying the busy routes above the area sometimes confuse Mount Adams with nearby Mount Rainier/Tacoma, which has a similar flat-topped shape.

The Pacific Crest Trail traverses the western flank of the mountain.

In the early 21st century, glaciers cover a total of 2.5% of Adams' surface. During the last ice age about 90% of the mountain was glaciated. Mount Adams has 209 perennial snow and ice features and 12 officially named glaciers : Adams Glacier, Pinnacle Glacier, White Salmon Glacier,  Avalanche Glacier, Mazama Glacier, Klickitat Glacier, Rusk Glacier, Wilson Glacier, Gotchen Glacier, Crescent Glacier and Lava Glacier.

The painter 
Alvan Fisher  was one of the United States's pioneers in landscape painting and genre works.
Fisher traveled throughout the northeastern United States searching out sites of landscape beauty such as the views of Springfield, Hartford, and Providence and the spectacular scenery of the White Mountains of New Hampshire. He sketched outdoors and began to compose pastoral scenes in his studio before Thomas Cole or others of the Hudson River School gave serious attention to nature. The Watering Place, 1816, now in the collection of Fruitlands Museum, Harvard, Massachusetts, is his earliest extant pure landscape. His paintings of Niagara Falls, commissioned by Judge Daniel Appleton White of Salem, Massachusetts, were completed following his visit there in 1820.
In April, 1825, Fisher sailed for a tour of the great art centers of Europe. He was the first important American landscapist to make such a tour. He visited England, France, Italy and Switzerland, countries considered important for any artist's professional stature and artistic maturation. In London he visited private collections and was inspired by the composition and subject matter of landscapes by Claude Lorrain. In Paris he studied drawing and made copies of works by the Old Masters at the Louvre. He had evidently met General Lafayette in 1824 when Lafayette stopped at Dedham during his triumphal tour of the United States. Fisher was granted permission to complete paintings of Chateau La Grange, Lafayette's estate outside Paris. His four views of La Grange were then drawn on lithographic stones in France by the noted lithographer Isadore Deroy, and brought back for printing on one of the first lithographic presses used in the United States. Portfolios of these prints were sold as souvenirs building on the popularity of General Lafayette.
Perhaps the greatest recognition of his skill as a landscape artist came one hundred years his death  later when First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy chose his painting, The Remnant of the Tribe, to hang in the Green Room of the White House. The Dedham Historical Society has a collection of his paintings, sketches and biographical material. 

THE CANIGOU PAINTED BY JAMES DICKSON INNES

JAMES DICKSON INNES (1887–1914) 

The Canigou (2,784m - 9,137 ft) 

France (Pyrénées)

1. In Canigou 1912-1913 oil on canvas,  National museum of Wales, Cardiff

2. In Canigou in Snow, 1911, oil on canvas, National Museum ofWales,  Cardiff.

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 

 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.

TASSILI N'AJJER IN VINTAGE STAMPS

VINTAGE STAMPS (1967-1983)

Tassili n'Ajeer (2,158 m - 7,080 ft)

Algeria- Lybia - Niger  

1 & 2. In Tassili n 'Ajjer,  Algérie 2. 80 and Algérie 0,50  (1983)

3. In Touraegs du Tassili, Postes Algérie, 0,70  (1967)

Courtesy mountainstamps.com

Tassili n'Ajjer (2,158 m - 7,080 ft) literally Plateau of the Rivers) is a heavily eroded sandstone rock formation in the Sahara desert, located on a vast plateau that encompasses southeastern Algeria, western Libya and northern Niger. It features over 300 rock arches, dense clusters of eroded sandstone rock pillars, and steep cliffs and gorges, where water pools permanently at the surface.
Tassili n'Ajjer covers an area of over 72,000 km2 (28,000 sq mi) and stands over 1000 m high with a culminating summit, Adrar Afao, at (2,158 m - 7,080 ft)
The plateau is also of great geological and aesthetic interest, as the panorama of geological formations of "rock forests" of eroded sandstone resembles a strange lunar landscape.
The rock formation is an archaeological site, noted for its numerous prehistoric parietal works of rock art, first reported in 1910, that date to the early Neolithic era at the end of the last glacial period during which the Sahara was an inhabitable savanna rather than the current desert. Although sources vary considerably, the earliest pieces of art are assumed to be 12,000 years old, the vast majority dates to the 9th and 10th millennia BP or younger, according to OSL dating of associated sediments. Among the 15,000 engravings so far identified depicted are large wild animals including antelopes and crocodiles, cattle herds and humans that engage in activities such as hunting and dancing. According to UNESCO, "The exceptional density of paintings and engravings... have made Tassili world famous." The archaeological site has been designated a national park, a Biosphere Reserve (cypresses) and was induced into UNESCO's World Heritage Site list as Tassili n'Ajjer National Park.

PROFITIS ELIAS BY CARL ROTTMANN

CARL ROTTMANN (1797-1850)

Profitis Elias  / Mount Taygetus  (2,404m- 7,887ft)

Greece

In Mount Taygetus, oil on canvas

The mountain 

Profitis Elias (2,404m - 7,887ft) or "Prophet Elias", mentioned  in Antique Greece by Pausanias as Taleton is the highest summit of Mount Tageytus also called  Taugetus, Taygetos, a mountain range in the Peloponnese peninsula in Southern Greece. The name is one of the oldest recorded in Europe, appearing in the Odyssey.  In classical mythology, it was associated with the nymph Taygete. During Byzantine times and up until the 19th century, the mountain was also known as Pentadaktylos (Greek for five-fingered, a common name during that period). The Taygetus Massif is about 100 km (62 mi) long, extending from the center of the Peloponnese to Cape Matapan, its southernmost extremity.
The summit is an ultra prominent peak. It is prominent above the Isthmus of Corinth, which separating the Peloponnese from mainland Greece, rises only to approximately 60 m (200 ft). Numerous creeks wash down from the mountains and the Evrotas river has some of its headwaters in the northern part of the range. The western side of the massif houses the headwaters of the Viros gorge, which carries winter snowmelt down the mountain, emptying into the Messenian Gulf in the town of Kardamili.
The peak known as Taleton, above Bryseae, was 'dedicated' to Helios, the Sun, to whom horses were sacrificed. Taleton was also 'dedicated' to Zeus. Today, the mountain is closely associated with the holy Prophet Elias, and every year on the 20th of July (the Greek Orthodox name day for the Prophet Elias), the small chapel at the peak holds a large festival, including a massive bonfire in commemoration of the Prophet Elias, as he is believed to have ascended up into heaven in a chariot of fire. The bonfire can be seen from anywhere with clear view of the summit, and it is for this reason that the town of Kardamyli is a local gathering point for those who wish to view the fire without having to climb the mountain.
The slopes of Taygetus have been inhabited since at least Mycenean times. The site of Arkina, near the village of Arna, contains three beehive tombs and is still unexplored. Taygetus was important as one of Sparta's natural defenses. The Spartans threw criminals and "unfit" (weak, sickly, deformed, or mentally retarded) infants into a chasm of Taygetus known as Ceadas or Caeadas (Καιάδας). In antiquity, Spartan newborns were abandoned there if deemed unfit after examination for vitality. Recent evidence, found by the University of Athens, discovered remains of adult individuals which appeared to confirm that Ceadas was mainly a place of punishment for criminals, traitors and captives. During the era of barbarian invasions, Taygetus served as a shelter for the native population. Many of the villages in its slopes date from this period. In Medieval times, the citadel and monastery of Mystras was built on the steep slopes, and became a center of Byzantine civilizations and served as the capital of the Despotate of the Morea. Mystras remains occupied by a tiny religious community. The buildings are remarkably well-preserved and a major tourist attraction in the region.
 It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The mountain is a popular hiking destination and is part of the European walking route E4. The view from the top includes most of the Evrotas valley and the Parnon range to the east, while the view towards the west includes Kalamata and the eastern half of Messenia. Most of the southwestern part of Arcadia can also be seen from the summit.

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.

CERAUNIUS THOLUS SEEN BY NASA MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR

NASA MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR  (1996-2007) 

Ceraunius Tholus (5,500 m  / 5, 5 km - 18,044 ft  / 3,4 mi)

MARS

1. In View of Ceraunius Tholus (left) and Uranius Tholus (right), Mars Orbiter Camera of 

Mars Global Surveyor, 2002

2.    In The volcanoes Ceraunius Tholus (left) and Uranius Tholus (right) showed by 

THEMIS daytime infrared image mosaic, 2012

The mountain 
Ceraunius Tholus (5,500 m -  )is a volcano on Mars located in the Tharsis quadrangle at 24.25° north latitude and 262.75° east longitude, part of the Uranius group of volcanoes. It is 130 km across, 5.5 km high and is named after a classical albedo feature name.
Ceraunius Tholus is on the Tharsis rise, also called the Tharsis bulge. Tharsis is a land of great volcanoes. Olympus Mons is the tallest known volcano. Ascraeus Mons and Pavonis Mons are at least 320 km across and are over 10 km above the plateau that they sit on. The plateau is five to four seven kilometers above the zero altitude of Mars.
Ceranius Tholus is generally believed to be a basaltic shield with the lower part buried beneath plain forming lavas. Earlier interpretations suggested that it is a stratovolcano.  The slopes on Ceraunius Tholus are quite steep with an average slope of 8° with many radial erosion channels and pitted valleys extending from just below the rim of the caldera toward the base of the volcano. The current view is that the valleys were eroded by water.  Interesting features on Ceraunius Tholus are three large canyons at the northwest flank of Ceraunius Tholus which are up to 2.5 km wide and 300 m deep. The biggest of these three also appears to be the youngest and protrude from the lowest point of the volcanic caldera and ends at the interesting crater Rahe (an oblique impact crater with measures of 35 Ч 18 km), just north from the volcano where it formed a depositional fan. Its origin is still debatable and there are four main models proposed: fluvial action, volcanic flows, valley being a lava channel or some combination of previously mentioned models.
Ceraunius appears small compared to other larger volcanoes, but it is almost as tall as Earth's Mount Everest. The caldera of Ceranius Tholus is also dotted with many collapse pits, which are distinct from impact craters as they have no rim and vary in abundance across the caldera. Ceraunius Tholus is probably late Hesperian in age.
Some scientists believe that glaciers may have existed on many of the volcanoes in Tharsis including Olympus Mons, Ascraeus Mons, and Pavonis Mons.  Ceraunius Tholus may have even had its glaciers melt to form some temporary lakes in the past. The smoothness and flatness of the Ceraunius Tholus caldera floor suggests that in the past meltwater accumulated in a caldera lake.

The mission
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) was an American robotic spacecraft developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched November 7, 1996. Mars Global Surveyor was a global mapping mission that examined the entire planet, from the ionosphere down through the atmosphere to the surface.  As part of the larger Mars Exploration Program, Mars Global Surveyor performed monitoring relay for sister orbiters during aerobraking, and it helped Mars rovers and lander missions by identifying potential landing sites and relaying surface telemetry.
It completed its primary mission in January 2001 and was in its third extended mission phase when, on 2 November 2006, the spacecraft failed to respond to messages and commands. A faint signal was detected three days later which indicated that it had gone into safe mode. Attempts to recontact the spacecraft and resolve the problem failed, and NASA officially ended the mission in January 2007.
The Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) science investigation used 3 instruments: a narrow angle camera that took (black-and-white) high resolution images (usually 1.5 to 12 m per pixel) and red and blue wide angle pictures for context (240 m per pixel) and daily global imaging (7.5 km per pixel). MOC returned more than 240,000 images spanning portions of 4.8 Martian years, from September 1997 and November 2006.[6] A high resolution image from MOC covers a distance of either 1.5 or 3.1 km long. Often, a picture will be smaller than this because it has been cut to just show a certain feature. These high resolution images may cover features 3 to 10 km long. When a high resolution image is taken, a context image is taken as well. The context image shows the image footprint of the high resolution picture. Context images are typically 115.2 km square with 240 m/pixel resolution.
Source: 
- NASA data base on MGS 

THE ZUGSPITZE BY MARSDEN HARTLEY

MARSDEN HARTLEY (1877-1943) 

Die Zugspitze  (2, 962 m - 9, 718 ft) 

Germany 

In Blue Mountain in Garmisch Partenkirchen, Zugspitze, 1933, drawing pastel

The painting

Sevral paintings by Marsden Hartley have the same title  "Blue Mountain". Hopefully Hartley put subtitle  to avoid any confusion. The painting above  Blue Mountain in Garmisch Partenkirchen, 1933 can't  be confused with Summer Camp Blue Mountain, 1909  a work in the collections of the de Young and Legion of Honor museums of San Francisco, or  Blue Mountain New Mexico, 1918.

The mountain 
The Zugspitze (2,962m -9,718 ft) above sea level, is the highest peak of the Wetterstein Mountains as well as the highest mountain in Germany. It lies south of the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and the border between Germany and Austria runs over its western summit. South of the mountain is the Zugspitzplatt, a high karst plateau with numerous caves. On the flanks of the Zugspitze are three glaciers, including the two largest in Germany: the Northern Schneeferner with an area of 30.7 hectares and the Höllentalferner with an area of 24.7 hectares. The third is the Southern Schneeferner which covers 8.4 hectares.
The Zugspitze was first climbed on 27 August 1820 by Josef Naus, his survey assistant, Maier, and mountain guide, Johann Georg Tauschl. Today there are three normal routes to the summit: one from the Höllental valley to the northeast; another out of the Reintal valley to the southeast; and the third from the west over the Austrian Cirque (Österreichische Schneekar). One of the best known ridge routes in the Eastern Alps runs along the knife-edged Jubilee Ridge (Jubiläumsgrat) to the summit, linking the Zugspitze, the Hochblassen and the Alpspitze. For mountaineers there is plenty of nearby accommodation. On the western summit of the Zugspitze itself is the Münchner Haus and on the western slopes is the Wiener-Neustädter Hut.
Three cable cars run to the top of the Zugspitze. The first, the Tyrolean Zugspitze Cable Car, was built in 1926 and terminated on an arête below the summit before the terminus was moved to the actual summit in 1991. A rack railway, the Bavarian Zugspitze Railway, runs inside the northern flank of the mountain and ends on the Zugspitzplatt, from where a second cable car takes passengers to the top. The rack railway and the Eibsee Cable Car, the third cableway, transport an average of 500,000 people to the summit each year. In winter, nine ski lifts cover the ski area on the Zugspitzplatt. The weather station, opened in 1900, and the research station in the Schneefernerhaus are mainly used to conduct climate research.
At the Zugspitze's summit is the Münchner Haus, a mountain hut (Alpenhütte), a facility built by the German Alpine Club (Deutscher Alpenverein). For more than a hundred years, the summit has also had a weather station, which nowadays also gathers data for the Global Atmosphere Watch.
Climbing up the Zugspitze can involve several routes. The large difference in elevation between Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the summit is 2,200 m (7,200 ft), making the climb a challenge even for trained mountaineers.

The painter 
Marsden Hartley was an American Modernist painter, poet, and essayist. Hartley began his art training at the Cleveland Institute of Art after his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1892.  He won a scholarship to the Cleveland School of Art.
In 1898, at age 22, he moved to New York City to study painting at the New York School of Art under William Merritt Chase, and then attended the National Academy of Design. Hartley was a great admirer of Albert Pinkham Ryder and visited his studio in Greenwich Village as often as possible. His friendship with Ryder, in addition to the writings of Walt Whitman and American transcendentalists Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, inspired Hartley to view art as a spiritual quest.
Hartley first traveled to Europe in April 1912, and he became acquainted with Gertrude Stein's circle of Avant-garde writers and artists in Paris.  Stein, along with Hart Crane and Sherwood Anderson, encouraged Hartley to write as well as paint.
In 1913, Hartley moved to Berlin, where he continued to paint and befriended the painters Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc. He also collected Bavarian folk art.  His work during this period was a combination of abstraction and German Expressionism, fueled by his personal brand of mysticism.
In Berlin, Hartley developed a close relationship with a Prussian lieutenant, Karl von Freyburg. References to Freyburg were a recurring motif in Hartley's work, most notably in Portrait of a German Officer (1914). Freyburg's subsequent death during the war hit Hartley hard, and he afterward idealized their relationship. Many scholars believe Hartley to have been gay, and have interpreted his work regarding Freyburg as embodying his homosexual feelings for him.
Hartley finally returned to the U.S. in early 1916. He lived in Europe again from 1921 to 1930, when he moved back to the U.S. for good.  He painted throughout the country, in Massachusetts, New Mexico, California, and New York. He returned to Maine in 1937, after declaring that he wanted to become "the painter of Maine" and depict American life at a local level.  This aligned Hartley with the Regionalism movement, a group of artists active from the early- to-mid 20th century that attempted to represent a distinctly "American art." He continued to paint in Maine, primarily scenes around Lovell and the Corea coast, until his death in Ellsworth in 1943. His ashes were scattered on the Androscoggin River. Most of his mountains paintings of Maine are nowadays in the MET collections.

HIRA MOUNTAINS BY SHINSUI ITO / 新水伊藤

SHINSUI ITO  / 新水伊藤 (1898-1972)

Hira Mountains or Hira Sanchi (1,214 m - 3,984 ft)

Japan 

 In Eight views of Lake Biwa, 1917, woodblock print on paper

The mountains 
The three main peaks of the Hira Mountains are Mount Bunagatake (1,214 m- 3,984 ft) ; Hōraisan, (1,174 m- 3,852 ft) and Mount Uchimi (1,103 m - 3,619 ft).
The Hira Mountains (比良山地 Hira-sanchi) are a mountain range to the west of Lake Biwa on the border of Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. The range runs 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) north to south. It is narrowest in the southern part of the range, running 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) east to west, and broadest at the northern part of the range, running 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) km east to west. The eastern side of the Hira Mountains looks steeply over Lake Biwa, while the western side of the range forms a gentler valley in Kyoto.

The artist
Shinsui Itō / 伊東 深水 was the pseudonym of a Nihonga painter and ukiyo-e woodblock print artist in Taishō - and Shōwa-period Japan. He was one of the great names of the shin-hanga art movement, which revitalized the traditional art after it began to decline with the advent of photography in the early 20th century. His real name was Itō Hajime (伊東 一).
Itō's early landscape series, Eight Views of Lake Biwa inspired Kawase Hasui.
In the post-war period Itō came to be regarded as one of the best known and respected personalities in Japanese society, and received several important honors during his lifetime. In 1952 the "Commission for the Protection of Cultural Properties" (Bunkazai Hōgō Iinkai) declared his woodblock designing talent to be of "intangible cultural properties" (mukei bunkazai) which was then the equivalent of being declared a Living National Treasure. In 1958, he became a member of the Japan Art Academy. In 1970, he received the Order of the Rising Sun.

MOUNT TARAWERA AND TERRACES BY JOHN HOYTE

JOHN HOYTE (1835-1913) 

Mount Tarawera (1, 111m - 3,645ft)

New Zealand

1.  In  White Terraces, Tepapa, oil on canvas, 1875,

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.

 The artist 
John Barr Clark Hoyte (1835 –1913) was a New Zealand artist and teacher. He was born in London, England. During his years in New Zealand John Hoyte travelled assiduously in search of new scenes to exploit. In January 1866 he exhibited views from Whangarei, Coromandel, Auckland, Waikato, the Wellington region and Nelson, although some of these pictures were not painted from the subject. In the 1870s he travelled each summer, progressively adding the thermal region, Taranaki, Nelson, Christchurch, Arthur's Pass, Banks Peninsula and Otago to his repertoire between 1872 and 1876. His pictorial exploration of the colony's principal dramatic landscapes was completed when he took a cruise circumnavigating the South Island in early 1877, exploring the coast of Fiordland with particular attention. New Zealand subjects would continue to inspire his production long after he had settled in Australia, where they shared his attention with coastal and mountain views drawn chiefly from the neighbourhood of Sydney.
Hoyte brought a professional determination to his career. He exhibited paintings whenever and wherever he could, in his home and studio, at fêtes and fairs and in many formal art exhibitions in both New Zealand and Australia. He was tireless in his support of formal structures for the embryonic antipodean art world.