MONTE SORATTE PAINTED BY CAMILLE COROT

CAMILLE COROT  (1796-1875)

 Le Mont Soracte or Monte Soratte (691 m - 2,267 ft)

Italy

1. Vue du mont Soracte, 1826, Collection privée, France  

2. Le mont Soracte 1826-27,  Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich, Germany 

3. Le mont Soracte 1826- 27, Musée d'art et d'histoire, Genève, Switzerland

The mountain 

Monte Soratte (latin: Mons Soracte or Sorax after Plinus the Elder) is a mountain ridge in the province of Rome, Italy.  The highest summit is 691 m (2,267 ft) above sea-level. The ridge is part of a 444-hectare (1,100 acre) Natural Reserve housing a variety of vegetation and fauna. It is also characterized by the so-called Meri, pits which can be up to 115 metres (377 ft) deep. 

Mount Soratte is part of the Apennines range.  It appears like a narrow, isolated limestone ridge with a length of 5.5 km (3.4 mi) and six peaks.  Located some 10 km (6.2 mi) south east of Civita Castellana and c. 45 km (28 mi) north of Rome, it is the sole notable ridge in the Tiber Valley. The nearest settlement is the village of Sant'Oreste.  Saint Orestes or Edistus, after whom the settlement is named, is said to have been martyred near Monte Soratte.

The area was used by the ancient Italic tribes (Sabines, Capenates, Faliscans and Etruscans) for the cult of the God Soranus or Dis Pater who became later Pluto.  Mount Soratte was mentioned by Horace ("Vides ut alta stet nive candidum Soracte?" Carm. i. 9), and Virgil, who stated that Apollo was its guardian deity.

The hermitage of St. Sylvester is just below the summit.  According to a legend, its church was founded by Pope Sylvester, who had taken refuge there to escape Constantine's persecution.  The church houses 14th and 15th century frescoes.  Four other hermitages are situated on the ridge.

Goethe mentioned the peak in Italian Journey, his diary of his travels through Italy from 1786–1788. : "Soracte stands out by itself in magnificent solitude. Probably this mountain is made of limestone and belongs to the Apennines."

References:

- Natural reserve of Mount  Soratte

- Freschi di San Silvestro

- The Hirpi Sorani and the Wolf Cults of Central Italy

The painter 

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875), French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching,  is a pivotal figure in landscape painting.  His vast output simultaneously refers the Neo-Classical tradition and anticipates the plein-air innovations of Impressionism.

Camille Corot, no doubt attracted by the mythical aspect of Monte Soratte, painted it several times during his first stay in Italy between 1825 and 1830.  Three of these representations are published in this blog today; although all painted  between 1826 and 1827, they are very different from each other, they were painted at different times of the year ant different hours of the day as he used to do.  The first presented here, apparently painted during summertime, has an almost Cézanian appearance !

Indeed, with his parents' support, Corot followed the well-established pattern of French painters who went to Italy to study the masters of the Italian Renaissance and to draw the crumbling monuments of Roman antiquity.  A condition by his parents before leaving was that he paint a self-portrait for them, his first.  During  his stay in Italy, Corot completed over 200 drawings and 150 paintings !   

Corot learned little from the Renaissance masters (though later he cited Leonardo da Vinci as his favorite painter) and spent most of his time around Rome and in the Italian countryside.  The Farnese Gardens with its splendid views of the ancient ruins was a frequent destination, and he painted it at three different times of the day, like Monte Soratte.  The training was particularly valuable in gaining an understanding of the challenges of both the mid-range and panoramic perspective, and in effectively placing man-made structures in a natural setting.   He also learned how to give buildings and rocks the effect of volume and solidity with proper light and shadow, while using a smooth and thin technique.   During winter, he spent time in a studio but returned to work outside as quickly as weather permitted (the second Monte Soratte painting, with its grey light, was probably painted during winter. The intense light of Italy  particularly during summer time, posed considerable challenges to Corot  : "This sun gives off a light that makes me despair. It makes me feel the utter powerlessness of my palette." He learned to master the light and to paint the stones and sky in subtle and dramatic variation.

Of him Claude Monet exclaimed in 1897, "There is only one master here—Corot. We are nothing compared to him, nothing."  His contributions to figure painting are hardly less important; Degas preferred his figures to his landscapes, and the classical figures of Picasso pay overt homage to Corot's influence.

Historians have divided his work into periods, but the points of division are often vague, as he often completed a picture years after he began it. In his early period, he painted traditionally and "tight"—with minute exactness, clear outlines, thin brush work, and with absolute definition of objects throughout, with a monochromatic underpainting or ébauche.  After he reached his 50th year, his methods changed to focus on breadth of tone and an approach to poetic power conveyed with thicker application of paint; and about 20 years later, from about 1865 onwards, his manner of painting became more lyrical, affected with a more impressionistic touch. In part, this evolution in expression can be seen as marking the transition from the plein-air paintings of his youth, shot through with warm natural light, to the studio-created landscapes of his late maturity, enveloped in uniform tones of silver. In his final 10 years he became the "Père (Father) Corot" of Parisian artistic circles, where he was regarded with personal affection, and acknowledged as one of the five or six greatest landscape painters the world had seen, along with Hobbema, Claude Lorrain, Turner and Constable. In his long and productive life, he painted over 3,000 paintings.

Though often credited as a precursor of Impressionist practice, Corot approached his landscapes more traditionally than is usually believed.  Compared to the Impressionists who came later, Corot's palette is restrained, dominated with browns and blacks ("forbidden colors" among the Impressionists) along with dark and silvery green.  Though appearing at times to be rapid and spontaneous, usually his strokes were controlled and careful, and his compositions well-thought out and generally rendered as simply and concisely as possible, heightening the poetic effect of the imagery.  As he stated, "I noticed that everything that was done correctly on the first attempt was more true, and the forms more beautiful."

Corot's approach to his subjects was similarly traditional.  Although he was a major proponent of plein-air studies, he was essentially a studio painter and few of his finished landscapes were completed before the motif.  For most of his life, Corot would spend his summers travelling and collecting studies and sketches, and his winters finishing more polished, market-ready works.  For example, the title of his Bathers of the Borromean Isles (1865–70) refers to Lake Maggiore in Italy, despite the fact that Corot had not been to Italy in 20 years.  His emphasis on drawing images from the imagination and memory rather than direct observation was in line with the tastes of the Salon jurors, of which he was a member.

In the 1860s, Corot became interested in photography, taking photos himself and becoming acquainted with many early photographers, which had the effect of suppressing his painting palette even more in sympathy with the monochromic tones of photographs. This had the result of making his paintings even less dramatic but somewhat more poetic, a result which caused some critics to cite a monotony in his later work. Théophile Thoré wrote that Corot "has only a single octave, extremely limited and in a minor key; a musician would say. He knows scarcely more than a single time of day, the morning, and a single color, pale grey."  Corot responded: "What there is to see in painting, or rather what I am looking for, is the form, the whole, the value of the tones...That is why for me the color comes after, because I love more than anything else the overall effect, the harmony of the tones, while color gives you a kind of shock that I don’t like. Perhaps it is the excess of this principal that makes people say I have leaden tones."

In his aversion to shocking color, Corot sharply diverged from the up-and-coming Impressionists, who embraced experimentation with vivid hues.

The works of Corot are housed in museums in France and the Netherlands, Britain, North America and Russia

References

- Corot Biography 

- Corot on Web museum 

- Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot/Wikipedia page

PUY DE LA VACHE PAINTED BY CAMILLE COROT

CAMILLE COROT (1796-1875)

Puy de la Vache  (1,167m- 3,829ft) 

France (Puy de dôme)

In Monts d'Auvergne, oil on canvas,  Musée d'art Roger Quilliot, Clermont-Ferrand  

The mountain 

The Puy de la Vache (1,167m- 3,829ft)  (Puy of the Cow) is a basaltic volcano of the Puys Range, in the Massif Central in France. The Puy de la Vache is located in the town of Saint-Genès-Champanelle, south-west of Clermont-Ferrand. Its principal lava flow, combined with that of the Puy de Lassolas, is called Cheire d'Aydat. It created, by barring valleys, different lakes including Lake Cassière to the North and Lake Aydat to the South in the valley of the Veyre.

With its twin the Puy de Lassolas, they form two monogenic volcanoes, that is to say, born of a single eruptive episode, of strombolian type. They form two cones of slag, the color of which goes from red (for those exposed to the heat of the crater, which has favored their oxidation) to black.

Their joint lava flow (Cheire d'Aydat) traveled fifteen kilometers to the Southeast, reaching the current sites of the towns of Saint-Saturnin and Saint-Amant-Tallende. The slag dropped on the back of the casting made the surface chaotic. It is possible to find on this site rare phenocrysts (large crystals contained in a volcanic rock). Aged 8,600, they are the youngest volcanoes in the Puys range. The last listed eruption was in 6020 before the Christian era. 

The painter 

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875), French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching,  is a pivotal figure in landscape painting.  His vast output simultaneously refers the Neo-Classical tradition and anticipates the plein-air innovations of Impressionism.

Camille Corot, no doubt attracted by the mythical aspect of Monte Soratte, painted it several times during his first stay in Italy between 1825 and 1830.  Three of these representations are published in this blog today; although all painted  between 1826 and 1827, they are very different from each other, they were painted at different times of the year ant different hours of the day as he used to do.  The first presented here, apparently painted during summertime, has an almost Cézanian appearance !

Indeed, with his parents' support, Corot followed the well-established pattern of French painters who went to Italy to study the masters of the Italian Renaissance and to draw the crumbling monuments of Roman antiquity.  A condition by his parents before leaving was that he paint a self-portrait for them, his first.  During  his stay in Italy, Corot completed over 200 drawings and 150 paintings !   

Corot learned little from the Renaissance masters (though later he cited Leonardo da Vinci as his favorite painter) and spent most of his time around Rome and in the Italian countryside.  The Farnese Gardens with its splendid views of the ancient ruins was a frequent destination, and he painted it at three different times of the day, like Monte Soratte.  The training was particularly valuable in gaining an understanding of the challenges of both the mid-range and panoramic perspective, and in effectively placing man-made structures in a natural setting.   He also learned how to give buildings and rocks the effect of volume and solidity with proper light and shadow, while using a smooth and thin technique.   

Of him Claude Monet exclaimed in 1897, "There is only one master here—Corot. We are nothing compared to him, nothing."  His contributions to figure painting are hardly less important; Degas preferred his figures to his landscapes, and the classical figures of Picasso pay overt homage to Corot's influence.

Historians have divided his work into periods, but the points of division are often vague, as he often completed a picture years after he began it. In his early period, he painted traditionally and "tight"—with minute exactness, clear outlines, thin brush work, and with absolute definition of objects throughout, with a monochromatic underpainting or ébauche.  After he reached his 50th year, his methods changed to focus on breadth of tone and an approach to poetic power conveyed with thicker application of paint; and about 20 years later, from about 1865 onwards, his manner of painting became more lyrical, affected with a more impressionistic touch. In part, this evolution in expression can be seen as marking the transition from the plein-air paintings of his youth, shot through with warm natural light, to the studio-created landscapes of his late maturity, enveloped in uniform tones of silver. In his final 10 years he became the "Père (Father) Corot" of Parisian artistic circles, where he was regarded with personal affection, and acknowledged as one of the five or six greatest landscape painters the world had seen, along with Hobbema, Claude Lorrain, Turner and Constable. In his long and productive life, he painted over 3,000 paintings.

Though often credited as a precursor of Impressionist practice, Corot approached his landscapes more traditionally than is usually believed.  Compared to the Impressionists who came later, Corot's palette is restrained, dominated with browns and blacks ("forbidden colors" among the Impressionists) along with dark and silvery green.  Though appearing at times to be rapid and spontaneous, usually his strokes were controlled and careful, and his compositions well-thought out and generally rendered as simply and concisely as possible, heightening the poetic effect of the imagery.  As he stated, "I noticed that everything that was done correctly on the first attempt was more true, and the forms more beautiful."

Corot's approach to his subjects was similarly traditional.  Although he was a major proponent of plein-air studies, he was essentially a studio painter and few of his finished landscapes were completed before the motif.  For most of his life, Corot would spend his summers travelling and collecting studies and sketches, and his winters finishing more polished, market-ready works.  For example, the title of his Bathers of the Borromean Isles (1865–70) refers to Lake Maggiore in Italy, despite the fact that Corot had not been to Italy in 20 years.  His emphasis on drawing images from the imagination and memory rather than direct observation was in line with the tastes of the Salon jurors, of which he was a member.

In the 1860s, Corot became interested in photography, taking photos himself and becoming acquainted with many early photographers, which had the effect of suppressing his painting palette even more in sympathy with the monochromic tones of photographs. This had the result of making his paintings even less dramatic but somewhat more poetic, a result which caused some critics to cite a monotony in his later work. Théophile Thoré wrote that Corot "has only a single octave, extremely limited and in a minor key; a musician would say. He knows scarcely more than a single time of day, the morning, and a single color, pale grey."  Corot responded: "What there is to see in painting, or rather what I am looking for, is the form, the whole, the value of the tones...That is why for me the color comes after, because I love more than anything else the overall effect, the harmony of the tones, while color gives you a kind of shock that I don’t like. Perhaps it is the excess of this principal that makes people say I have leaden tones."

In his aversion to shocking color, Corot sharply diverged from the up-and-coming Impressionists, who embraced experimentation with vivid hues.

The works of Corot are housed in museums in France and the Netherlands, Britain, North America and Russia.

PUY DE LA TACHE BY CAMILLE COROT

CAMILLE COROT  (1796-1875) 

Puy de la Tache (1,629m - 5,344 ft) 

France (Auvergne) 

About the painting
This painting by Corot entitled  Montagnes d'Auvergne is probably the Puy de la Tache (Puy of the Task) not to be confused with Puy de la Vache  (Puy of the Cow) also painted by Corot in his series untitled Montagnes d'Auvergne. Those attributions, however, must be taken with care, nothing more like an Auvergne volcano than another Auvergne volcano !

The mountain 
The Puy de la Tache (1,629m - 5,344 ft) is located in the Massif Central in the Puy de Dôme department. and is part of the Chaine des Puy. which are ancient volcanoes.  It dominates the pass of the Cross Morand. A short walk back and forth from the pass allows you to climb to the top. No difficulty apart steep slope in places but the climb is done without any problem. Nice view of Lake Guéry and many other volcanoes when the sky is clear. You can also extend the hike by following the ridges and climbing on several other volcanoes.

The painter 

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875), French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching,  is a pivotal figure in landscape painting.  His vast output simultaneously refers the Neo-Classical tradition and anticipates the plein-air innovations of Impressionism.

Camille Corot, no doubt attracted by the mythical aspect of Monte Soratte, painted it several times during his first stay in Italy between 1825 and 1830.  Three of these representations are published in this blog today; although all painted  between 1826 and 1827, they are very different from each other, they were painted at different times of the year ant different hours of the day as he used to do.  The first presented here, apparently painted during summertime, has an almost Cézanian appearance !

Indeed, with his parents' support, Corot followed the well-established pattern of French painters who went to Italy to study the masters of the Italian Renaissance and to draw the crumbling monuments of Roman antiquity.  A condition by his parents before leaving was that he paint a self-portrait for them, his first.  During  his stay in Italy, Corot completed over 200 drawings and 150 paintings !   

Corot learned little from the Renaissance masters (though later he cited Leonardo da Vinci as his favorite painter) and spent most of his time around Rome and in the Italian countryside.  The Farnese Gardens with its splendid views of the ancient ruins was a frequent destination, and he painted it at three different times of the day, like Monte Soratte.  The training was particularly valuable in gaining an understanding of the challenges of both the mid-range and panoramic perspective, and in effectively placing man-made structures in a natural setting.   He also learned how to give buildings and rocks the effect of volume and solidity with proper light and shadow, while using a smooth and thin technique.  

In his aversion to shocking color, Corot sharply diverged from the up-and-coming Impressionists, who embraced experimentation with vivid hues.

The works of Corot are housed in museums in France and the Netherlands, Britain, North America and Russia.

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

THE MONT VENTOUX BY CAMILLE COROT

CAMILLE COROT (1796-1875) 

 Mont Ventoux (1, 911m - 6, 270ft) 

France (Vaucluse) 

In Villeneuve-les-Avignon, 1836,  oil on academy board mounted on canvas  

Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, USA 

The mountain  

Mont Ventoux  (1, 911m - 6, 270ft), Ventor in Latin, is located in the French department of Vaucluse (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur). It is about 25 kilometers long on an east-west for 15 kilometers wide on a north-south axis. Nicknamed the Giant of Provence, it is the culmination of the Monts du Vaucluse, the ultimate link of the Southern Alps and the highest peak of Vaucluse. Its geographical isolation makes it visible over great distances.
Mont Ventoux is as well the linguistic border between the north and south-Occitan.
Its mainly calcareous nature is responsible, in its top part, its deep white color in every season and intense karstification due to erosion by water, with the presence of numerous scree on the south face. Precipitation is particularly abundant in spring and fall. Rainwater seeps into galleries and reflects the level of the variable flow resurgences such as Fontain-de-Vaucluse or Source du Groseau.
Mont Ventoux is subject to a Mediterranean dominant weather, sometimes causing scorching temperatures during summer, the altitude offering a wide variety of climates, to the top (continental influence of mountain type), through a temperate climate (mid-slopes). In addition, the north wind can be very violent and the Mistral blows almost half part of the year.
This particular geomorphology and climate make it a rich and fragile environmental site consisting of many levels of vegetation. It is s a biosphere reserve by UNESCO and Natura 2000 site.
If human settlements are found in the foothills in prehistoric times, the first ascent to the summit would work on 26 April 1336, the poet Petrarch from Malaucène on the northern slope. It opens the way later in numerous scientific studies.
Thereafter, for nearly six centuries, Mont Ventoux has been intensely deforested to provide the shipbuilding in Toulon, charcoal manufacturers and sheep farmers. During World War II, the mountain is home to the Ventoux maquis, the french Resistance against Nazis.
Since 1966, the summit is topped with an observation tower over forty meters high topped by a TV and satellite antenna.
While sheep farming has almost disappeared, beekeeping, gardening (especially cherries), viticulture, harvesting of mushrooms including truffles and, to a lesser extent,  lavender, are still practiced.
Mont Ventoux is an important symbolic figure of Provence that fed oral or literary works and artistic performances or pictorial map. It is represented since 1445 in the famous Pieta d'Avignon  by Engurerant Quarton (Musée du Louvre Paris), where one can see it painted on the right, behind Mary Magdalene weeping at the feet of Christ.
Before being covered by three main roads, which enabled the development of green tourism and outdoor sports both in summer and winter in particular with the organization of major cycling races, motor cars and other challenges, mountain was crisscrossed by sheep tracks traced by shepherds as a result of the growth of sheep between the fourteenth century and the mid-nineteenth century. These roads have now been turned into hiking trails, like the GR 4 and GR 9.

 The painter 

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching,  is a pivotal figure in landscape painting.  His vast output simultaneously refers the Neo-Classical tradition and anticipates the plein-air innovations of Impressionism.
Camille Corot, no doubt attracted by the mythical aspect of Monte Soratte, painted it several times during his first stay in Italy between 1825 and 1830. They were painted at different times of the year ant different hours of the day as Hokusai used to do with the Fujiyama. 
Indeed, with his parents' support, Corot followed the well-established pattern of French painters who went to Italy to study the masters of the Italian Renaissance and to draw the crumbling monuments of Roman antiquity.  A condition by his parents before leaving was that he paint a self-portrait for them, his first.  During  his stay in Italy, Corot completed over 200 drawings and 150 paintings !
- More about Camille Corot's life and works 

Notice about this painting   

Corot spent the summer of 1836 in Provence, where he and his fellow painters rose early each day to sketch directly from nature. This view of Villeneuve-les-Avignon with its luminous atmosphere and sense of rapid execution reflects his study in Italy. On the right is the medieval tower Tour Philippe Le Bel, the village of Villeneuve les Avignon near Avignon, the Rhone River on right and, in the background, the Mont Ventoux. 

THE MONT BLANC PAINTED BY GUSTAVE-EUGÈNE CASTAN

GUSTAVE-EUGÈNE CASTAN (1823-1892)  

The Mont Blanc (4,808 m - 15,776.7 ft)
 France, Italy border

In Climbers ascending Mont Blanc via the Grands Mulets Glacier, Chamonix, France, 

oil on paper laid on canvas (38 x 57cm) signed, circa 1885 

Courtesy John Mitchell Gallery, London  

Notice from the John Mitchell Gallery's catalogue : 
Only a handful of glacier scenes exist by this classically trained Swiss painter, academician and printmaker. This fine study, made in oils on paper en plein air, is as fascinating as it is rare. Born in Geneva, Castan was a direct contemporary of Gabriel Loppé when they were both students of Alexandre Calame between 1844 and 1846. After an apprenticeship with Rodolphe Töpffer in Geneva, Castan travelled to Meiringen in the Bernese Oberland to study landscape with Calame. Castan’s friendship with Loppé lasted beyond those two summers and, in all likelihood, it was Loppé who took him up to the Grands Mulets to paint this scene. Having established himself as a regular participant at the Paris Salon between 1855 and 1882 Castan became a successful landscape painter inspired by Corot and Daubigny and is better known today for his views of the Normandy coastline. Indeed, there are no Salon records of any similar high Alpine scenes by him and this painting was surely done as a record of his expedition to the flanks of Mont Blanc. The spidery figures were perhaps a later addition by the painter even if their scale is in proportion to their surrounding glaciers and crevasses.

The painter  
The Swiss lithographer, landscape painter and engraver Gustave- Eugène Castan was   trained in the studio of Alexandre Calame, whom he accompanied in Italy in 1844, then, the following year, in the Bernese Oberland. During his studies, he became friends with the French painter Eugène Castelnau and followed him to Paris in 1849. In 1850, he visited France and met the painter Auguste Ravier and, in 1852, Corot, which has a decisive influence on him. In 1856, he was mobilized in the context of the Neuchâtel affair and drew current events. In 1857, he went to the Paris Salon, which he visited with Corot, then traveled through Brittany and Normandy. He then divides his life between Switzerland and France and often goes to the Berry where he becomes a familiar of George Sand. It is during one of these visits that she makes him discover the landscapes of the Creuse. He then goes there every year during the summer months and contributes to the birth of the "Valley of painters" and the Crozant school.
In 1865, Castan was a founding member of the Swiss Society of Painters and Sculptors, of which he was president in 1887.
 The emperor Napoleon III bought his painting A morning autumn, making Castan definitely famous.  He presented landscapes of Belgium, Normandy, Brittany, Dauphiné and Creuse. He also participated in the Vienna International Exhibition in 1873 and the Jubiläumsausstellung in Munich in 1888.

The mountain 
 Full Wandering Vertexes entry for Mont Blanc = > 

___________________________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

THE PAIN DE SUCRE BY GUSTAVE-EUGÈNE CASTAN

GUSTAVE-EUGÈNE CASTAN (1823-1892)

Le Pain de Sucre  (3, 208m - 10, 525 ft)

France - Italy border 

 In  Pain du Sucre as seen from the St BernardPass, 1892, oil on canvas, Courtesy  John Mitchell Gallery, London 

The mountain
The Pain de Sucre (Sugar Loaf  not to be confused with the one in Brazil) is a summit of the massif of Escreins. It is located on the Franco-Italian border. It is easy to access for any hiker of medium level and being well equipped. It is necessary to climb before the Vieux pass (2 806 m) on the GR 58. From the top of the Sugar Loaf, marked by a small cross, we can clearly see Mount Viso.

The painter  
The Swiss lithographer, landscape painter and engraver Gustave- Eugène Castan was   trained in the studio of Alexandre Calame, whom he accompanied in Italy in 1844, then, the following year, in the Bernese Oberland. During his studies, he became friends with the French painter Eugène Castelnau and followed him to Paris in 1849. In 1850, he visited France and met the painter Auguste Ravier and, in 1852, Corot, which has a decisive influence on him. In 1856, he was mobilized in the context of the Neuchâtel affair and drew current events. In 1857, he went to the Paris Salon, which he visited with Corot, then traveled through Brittany and Normandy. He then divides his life between Switzerland and France and often goes to the Berry where he becomes a familiar of George Sand. It is during one of these visits that she makes him discover the landscapes of the Creuse. He then goes there every year during the summer months and contributes to the birth of the "Valley of painters" and the Crozant school.
In 1865, Castan was a founding member of the Swiss Society of Painters and Sculptors, of which he was president in 1887.
 The emperor Napoleon III bought his painting A morning autumn, making Castan definitely famous.  He presented landscapes of Belgium, Normandy, Brittany, Dauphiné and Creuse. He also participated in the Vienna International Exhibition in 1873 and the Jubiläumsausstellung in Munich in 1888.
___________________________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

MONTE SOLARO PAINTED BY THEODORE ROBINSON

 

 

 

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

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

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

The mountain 

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

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

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

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

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

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2022 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

EIRIKSJÖKULL PAINTED BY ASGRIMUR JONSSON

ASGRIMUR JONSSON (1876-1958) 

Eiríksjökull  (1,675m - 5,495 ft)  

Iceland

In  Strúttur og Eiríksjökul, oil on canvas, 1930, 

The mountain-glacier 
Eiríksjökull  (1675m - 5,495 ft)   (Eirík's glacier) is a glacier north-west of Langjökull in Iceland, with an area of 22 km2 (8.5 sq mi) reaching a height of 1,675 m (5,495 ft), making it the largest table mountain in Iceland.  Rising over 1,000 m (3,300 ft) above its surrounding, the lowest 350 m (1,150 ft) of a hyaloclastite (móberg) tuya formed presumably by a single subglacial volcanic activity is capped by a 750 m (2,460 ft) thick lava shield.  It is currently dormant or extinct in terms of volcanic activity.

The painter 
Asgrímur Jónsson was an Icelandic painter, and one of the first in the country to make art a professional living. He studied at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen between 1900 and 1903 and traveled widely after graduation. The subjects of his pictures are mostly the landscapes of his home country, particularly mountains. His painting style is similar to the French impressionists like Corot. Some of his pictures also illustrate Icelandic sagas and folk tales.
He was also noted for his murals in various churches in Iceland. A number of his works are on display in the National Gallery of Iceland. Jónsson influenced many artists in Iceland. A short time before he died he had donated his house in Reykjavík to the Icelandic Government along with all those paintings which were at that time in his possession. These consisted of 192 oil paintings and 277 water colours together with a great number of unfinished pictures dating from various periods in his life. During his lifetime Ásgrímur Jónsson was honoured in many ways. He was made honorary professor at the University of Iceland and, in 1933 he was made Grand Knight of the Icelandic Order of the Falcon. He was an honorary member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts and Knight of Dannebrog, first class. He died in 1958 and was buried in Gaulverjabær.
_____________________________
2017 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

MOUNT HOLYOKE BY VICTOR DE GRAILLY

VICTOR DE GRAILLY (1804-1887)  

Mount Holyoke (285 m - 935 ft)

 United States of America (Massachusetts) 

In Vue du Mont Holyoke, Massachusetts, Oil on canvas, Private collection USA 

The hill
Mount Holyoke, (285 m -  935 ft) a traprock mountain, is the western-most peak of the Holyoke Range and part of the 100-mile (160 km) Metacomet Ridge. The mountain is located in the Connecticut River Valley of western Massachusetts, and is the namesake of nearby Mount Holyoke College. The mountain is located in the towns of Hadley and South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is known for its historic summit house (restored i the 1980s), auto road, scenic vistas, and biodiversity. The mountain is crossed by the 110-mile (180 km) Metacomet-Monadnock Trail and numerous shorter trails. Mount Holyoke is the home of J.A. Skinner State Park which is accessible from Route 47 in Hadley, Massachusetts.[2][3]
In 2000, Mount Holyoke was included in a study by the National Park Service for the designation of a new National Scenic Trail now tentatively called the New England National Scenic Trail, which would include the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail in Massachusetts and the Mattabesett Trail and Metacomet Trail trails in Connecticut.

The painter 
Little is known about the life of french artist Victor de Grailly, famous for his Hudson River School-style landscapes of the United States. Born in France in 1804, he studied with neo-classical painter Jean Victor Bertin, who also mentored the great Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot.
Surprisingly,  de Grailly never traveled to America !  Instead, he drew inspiration from the 1840 London publication American Scenery, which contained detailed descriptions of important landmarks and tourist destinations in America accompanied by engravings after the artist William Henry Bartlett. While many painters capitalized on the popular views in American Scenery, de Grailly was especially successful, evidenced by the number of his scenes in American collections. As stated by Catherine H. Campbell, “Though there is no reason to think that de Grailly ever left his native country, such a number of the American views after Bartlett are in this country, often several representations of the same scene, that one wonders whether there was an outlet for his work in the United States.”  While his more academic, Romantic paintings were exhibited at the Paris Salons, he employed a workshop of artists to help him produce his commercially popular landscapes, many of which he produced in multiples. De Grailly has been said to have two careers: one as a Salon artist, and one as a businessman focused on the popular market. His Hudson River School work was exhibited in various locations throughout the United States between 1845 and 1858, such as Baltimore, Charleston, and New York.
Few of his works are signed, but confident attributions can be made based on his trademark style and technique. He typically utilized strong colors and depicted bright, clear skies with voluminous clouds. He is also recognized for a strong use of highlights, especially on clothing and trees, and a stippling technique to portray light on foliage.

MONT COUDON PAINTED BY OTHON FRIESZ

OTHON FRIESZ (1879 -1949) 

Mont Coudon  (702 m - 2, 303 ft) 

France (Var) 

The mountain 

Mont Coudon (702 m - 2, 303ft) is one of the three main mountains of a range called Monts Toulonnais in the Var region in the south of France, near the city harbour of Toulon and La Valette-du-Var.  The Monts Toulonnais are the general appellation of the numerous mountains around Toulon. The highest is Mount Caume (804 m-2,638ft), the least high is the massif of Cape Sicié (358 m) -1,174ft). The Monts toulonnais are also composed of the Baou de Quatre Oures, the Gros-Cerveau (The Big Brain), Mount Faron, which is the best known, and finally Mount Coudon. 

The summit of Mont Coudon is banned from access because it houses at its summit the Fort Girardon, a very important military base of the "Mediterranean" Navy. The Alps are visible for many days in the year, especially on strong Mistral wind days during which the weather is clear.  In November and only during one and three days in the year, it is possible to see the Corsican peaks by atmospheric reverberation. The panorama is hidden to the west by Mount Faron and Mount Caume.

The Coudon represents the end of the range of the Monts Toulonnais, which begin in the vicinity of Bandol to finish in a peak on the town of La Valette-du-Var. It is of calcareous constitution. 

The writer George Sand ascended  Mount Coudon on May 21, 1861, and mentions it in his diary, Voyage dit du Midi, as well as in the work Tamaris. The ascent is 6.1 km long and has a vertical drop of 438 meters for an average slope of 7.2%.

The painter 

Achille-Émile Othon Friesz who later called himself Othon Friesz, and used to sign his paintings E. Othon Friesz, a native of Le Havre, was a French artist of the Fauvist movement.  While he was at the Lycée, he met his lifelong friend Raoul Dufy. He and Dufy studied at the Le Havre School of Fine Arts in 1895-96 and then went to Paris together for further study. In Paris, Friesz met Henri Matisse, Albert Marquet, and Georges Rouault. Like them, he rebelled against the academic teaching of Bonnat and became a member of the Fauves, exhibiting with them in 1907. The following year, Friesz returned to Normandy and to a much more traditional style of painting, since he had discovered that his personal goals in painting were firmly rooted in the past. He opened his own studio in 1912 and taught until 1914 at which time he joined the army for the duration of the war. He resumed living in Paris in 1919 and remained there, except for brief trips to Toulon and the Jura Mountains, until his death in 1949. During the last thirty years of his life, he painted in a style very far from that of his earlier colleagues and his contemporaries. Having abandoned the lively arabesques and brilliant colors of his Fauve years, Friesz returned to the more sober palette he had learned in Le Havre from his professor Charles Lhuillier and to an early admiration for Poussin, Chardin, and Camille Corot. He painted in a manner that respected Paul Cézanne's ideas of logical composition, simple tonality, solidity of volume, and distinct separation of planes. A faint baroque flavor adds vigor to his  landscapes, still lifes, and figure paintings.

TINDFJALLAJÖKULL PAINTED BY ASGRIMUR JONSSON

ASGRIMUR JONSSON (1876-1958)

  Tindfjallajökull (1,462m - 4,797ft) 

Iceland

 Painted in 1909

The mountain 
Tindfjallajцkull (1,462m - 4,797ft) is a stratovolcano in the south of Iceland.  It has erupted rocks of basaltic to rhyolitic composition, and a 5-km-wide caldera was formed during the eruption of the 54,000-year-old Thуrsmцrk Ignimbrite. It is capped by a glacier of 19 km2. Its highest peak is Ymir which takes its name from the giant Ymir of Norse mythology. The most recent eruption was at an unknown time in the Holocene. The name means "Tindfjцll glacier". Tindfjцll ("peak mountains") is a ridge that extends to the south of the glacier. The rivers that flow from the glacier are Hvitmaga to the north-east, Gilsa to the south, Porolfsa to the south-west, Vala to the north-west and Blesa to the north. Hvнtmaga, Gilsб and Юуrуlfsб drain into Markarfljot while Vala and Blesa drain into Eystri Ranga.

 The Painter 
Asgrímur Jónsson was an Icelandic painter, and one of the first in the country to make art a professional living. He studied at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen between 1900 and 1903 and traveled widely after graduation. The subjects of his pictures are mostly the landscapes of his home country, particularly mountains. His painting style is similar to the French impressionists like Corot. Some of his pictures also illustrate Icelandic sagas and folk tales.
He was also noted for his murals in various churches in Iceland. A number of his works are on display in the National Gallery of Iceland. Jónsson influenced many artists in Iceland. A short time before he died he had donated his house in Reykjavík to the Icelandic Government along with all those paintings which were at that time in his possession. These consisted of 192 oil paintings and 277 water colours together with a great number of unfinished pictures dating from various periods in his life. During his lifetime Ásgrímur Jónsson was honoured in many ways. He was made honorary professor at the University of Iceland and, in 1933 he was made Grand Knight of the Icelandic Order of the Falcon. He was an honorary member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts and Knight of Dannebrog, first class. He died in 1958 and was buried in Gaulverjabær.


2017 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

MONTAGNE SAINTE VICTOIRE BY AUGUSTE RENOIR

PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR  (1841-1919)

 Mount of Sainte-Victoire (1, 011 m - 3, 316ft)

France (Provence) 

In La Montagne Sainte Victoire, ca.1888-89, oil on canvas,  (53x64,1cm) 

Yale University Art Gallery 

The mountain

Mont Sainte-Victoire our Montagne Sainte-Victoire (1,011 m-3,316ft)  also called Mont Venturi is a limestone massif in the South of France, in the region Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Located east of Aix-en-Provence, it has experienced international fame, due to the more than 80 works Paul Cézanne did on it. It hosts many hikers, climbers and nature lovers, and is a major element of Aix landscape. The range of the Sainte-Victoire is 18 kilometers long and 5 kilometers from large, following a strict east-west orientation. It is located on the Bouches-du-Rhône and Var, and in the towns of Puyloubier, Saint-Antonin-sur-Bayon, Rousset, Châteauneuf-le-Rouge, Beaurecueil, Le Tholonet Vauvenargues, Saint-Marc-Jaumegarde, Pourrières, Artigues and Rians.

D 10 and D 17 (Route Cézanne) are the main roads to skirt the mountains. On the northern side, the D10 crosses the Col de Claps (530 m) and the Col des Portes (631 m). On the southern side, the D 17 walks on the Plateau de Cengle and crossed the Collet blanc de Subéroque (505 m)...

- More about Mount of Sainte Victoire 

The painter 
 Pierre-Auguste Renoir, commonly known as Auguste Renoir  was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style.
Renoir's paintings are notable for their vibrant light and saturated color, most often focusing on people in intimate and candid compositions. The female nude was one of his primary subjects. In characteristic Impressionist style, Renoir suggested the details of a scene through freely brushed touches of color, so that his figures softly fuse with one another and their surroundings.
His initial paintings show the influence of the colorism of Eugène Delacroix and the luminosity of Camille Corot. He also admired the realism of Gustave Courbet and Édouard Manet, and his early work resembles theirs in his use of black as a color. Renoir admired Edgar Degas' sense of movement. Another painter Renoir greatly admired was the 18th-century master François Boucher.
In the late 1860s, through the practice of painting light and water en plein air (outdoors), he and his friend Claude Monet discovered that the color of shadows is not brown or black, but the reflected color of the objects surrounding them, an effect known today as diffuse reflection. Several pairs of paintings exist in which Renoir and Monet worked side-by-side, depicting the same scenes (La Grenouillère, 1869). He rarely painted landscapes without silhouettes like the Mount Sainte Victoire above, probably done as a tribute to Paul Cézanne.
One of the best known Impressionist works is Renoir's 1876 Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette (Bal du moulin de la Galette). The painting depicts an open-air scene, crowded with people at a popular dance garden on the Butte Montmartre close to where he lived. The works of his early maturity were typically Impressionist snapshots of real life, full of sparkling color and light. By the mid-1880s, however, he had broken with the movement to apply a more disciplined formal technique to portraits and figure paintings, particularly of women. It was a trip to Italy in 1881 when he saw works by Raphael and other Renaissance masters, that convinced him that he was on the wrong path, and for the next several years he painted in a more severe style in an attempt to return to classicism. Concentrating on his drawing and emphasizing the outlines of figures, he painted works such as The Large Bathers (1884–87; Philadelphia Museum of Art) during what is sometimes called his "Ingres period".
After 1890 he changed direction again. To dissolve outlines, as in his earlier work, he returned to thinly brushed color. From this period onward he concentrated on monumental nudes and domestic scenes, fine examples of which are Girls at the Piano, 1892, and Grandes Baigneuses, 1887. The latter painting is the most typical and successful of Renoir's late, abundantly fleshed nudes.
A prolific artist, he created several thousand paintings. The warm sensuality of Renoir's style made his paintings some of the most well-known and frequently reproduced works in the history of art. The single largest collection of his works—181 paintings in all—is at the Barnes Foundation, in Philadelphia.
He was the father of actor Pierre Renoir (1885–1952), filmmaker Jean Renoir (1894–1979) and ceramic artist Claude Renoir (1901–1969). He was the grandfather of the filmmaker Claude Renoir (1913–1993), son of Pierre.

THE ESJA PAINTED BY ASGRIMUR JONSSON

ASGRIMUR JONSSON (1876-1958)

The Esja or Esjan (914 m - 2, 999ft)

Iceland 

In The island Viðey and the mountain Esja, oil on canvas 1931

The mountain
Esja (914 m - 2,999 ft) often called "Esjan" or "The Esja" is situated in the south-west of Iceland, about 10 km to the north of Iceland's capital city Reykjavik. Esja is not a single mountain, but a volcanic mountain range, made from basalt and tuff. The etymology of the name is unclear. Esja can be used as a first name in Iceland. In the Kjalnesingasaga, there is a rich widow among Irish settlers named Esja, but it is likely that the women's name is derived from the mountain and not vice versa.
The easternmost summits of the mountain range, called Móskarðshnúkar, are of an unusually light colour. An Icelandic writer in the 19th century, so goes the story, hoped to see the sun there after a long period of rain. But when he looked closer, it was only the mountaintops with their colours. In reality, it is the rhyolite stone, often to be found in Icelandic nature near old (and also active) central volcanoes.

The painter
Asgrímur Jónsson was an Icelandic painter, and one of the first in the country to make art a professional living. He studied at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen between 1900 and 1903 and traveled widely after graduation. The subjects of his pictures are mostly the landscapes of his home country, particularly mountains. His painting style is similar to the French impressionists like Corot. Some of his pictures also illustrate Icelandic sagas and folk tales.
He was also noted for his murals in various churches in Iceland. A number of his works are on display in the National Gallery of Iceland. Jónsson influenced many artists in Iceland. A short time before he died he had donated his house in Reykjavík to the Icelandic Government along with all those paintings which were at that time in his possession. These consisted of 192 oil paintings and 277 water colours together with a great number of unfinished pictures dating from various periods in his life. During his lifetime Ásgrímur Jónsson was honoured in many ways. He was made honorary professor at the University of Iceland and, in 1933 he was made Grand Knight of the Icelandic Order of the Falcon. He was an honorary member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts and Knight of Dannebrog, first class. He died in 1958 and was buried in Gaulverjabær.
_____________________________

2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

MOUNT VESUVIUS PAINTED BY AUGUSTE RENOIR

PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR (1841-1919)

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

Italy

In The Bay of Naples (1881), Oil on canvas, 59.7 x 81.3 cm. 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The mountain
Mount Vesuvius (1,281 meters- 4,203 ft current) is one of those legendary and mythic mountains the Earth paid regularly tribute. Monte Vesuvio in Italian modern langage or Mons Vesuvius in antique Latin langage is a stratovolcano in the Gulf of Naples (Italy) about 9 km (5.6 mi) east of Naples and a short distance from the shore.
It is one of several volcanoes which form the Campanian volcanic arc. Vesuvius consists of a large cone partially encircled by the steep rim of a summit caldera caused by the collapse of an earlier and originally much higher structure.
Mount Vesuvius is best known for its eruption in AD 79 that led to the burying and destruction of the Roman antique cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and several other settlements. That eruption ejected a cloud of stones, ash, and fumes to a height of 33 km (20.5 mi), spewing molten rock and pulverized pumice at the rate of 1.5 million tons per second, ultimately releasing a hundred thousand times the thermal energy released by the Hiroshima bombing. At least 1,000 people died in the eruption. The only surviving eyewitness account of the event consists of two letters by Pliny the Younger to the historian Tacitus.
Vesuvius has erupted many times since and is the only volcano on the European mainland to have erupted within the last hundred years. Nowadays, it is regarded as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world because of the population of 3,000,000 people living nearby and its tendency towards explosive eruptions (said Plinian eruptions). It is the most densely populated volcanic region in the world.

The painter
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, commonly known as Auguste Renoir was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. Renoir's paintings are notable for their vibrant light and saturated color, most often focusing on people in intimate and candid compositions. The female nude was one of his primary subjects. In characteristic Impressionist style, Renoir suggested the details of a scene through freely brushed touches of color, so that his figures softly fuse with one another and their surroundings.
His initial paintings show the influence of the colorism of Eugène Delacroix and the luminosity of Camille Corot. He also admired the realism of Gustave Courbet and Édouard Manet, and his early work resembles theirs in his use of black as a color. Renoir admired Edgar Degas' sense of movement. Another painter Renoir greatly admired was the 18th-century master François Boucher.
In the late 1860s, through the practice of painting light and water en plein air (outdoors), he and his friend Claude Monet discovered that the color of shadows is not brown or black, but the reflected color of the objects surrounding them, an effect known today as diffuse reflection. Several pairs of paintings exist in which Renoir and Monet worked side-by-side, depicting the same scenes (La Grenouillère, 1869).

 He very rarely painted mountains landscapes like the Mount Sainte Victoire ( a tribute to Cezanne) or the Mount Vesuvius (above).
The works of his early maturity were typically Impressionist snapshots of real life, full of sparkling color and light. By the mid-1880s, however, he had broken with the movement to apply a more disciplined formal technique to portraits and figure paintings, particularly of women. It was a trip to Italy in 1881 when he saw works by Raphael and other Renaissance masters, that convinced him that he was on the wrong path, and for the next several years he painted in a more severe style in an attempt to return to classicism.
After 1890 he changed direction again. To dissolve outlines, as in his earlier work, he returned to thinly brushed color. From this period onward he concentrated on monumental nudes and domestic scenes, fine examples of which are Girls at the Piano, 1892, and Grandes Baigneuses, 1887. The latter painting is the most typical and successful of Renoir's late, abundantly fleshed nudes.
A prolific artist, he created several thousand paintings. The warm sensuality of Renoir's style made his paintings some of the most well-known and frequently reproduced works in the history of art. The single largest collection of his works—181 paintings in all—is at the Barnes Foundation, in Philadelphia.
He was the father of actor Pierre Renoir (1885–1952), filmmaker Jean Renoir (1894–1979) and ceramic artist Claude Renoir (1901–1969). He was the grandfather of the filmmaker Claude Renoir (1913–1993), son of Pierre.

___________________________________________

2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

THE MONT VENTOUX PAINTED BY PAUL SURTEL

 

PAUL SURTEL (1893-1985)

 The mont Ventoux (1, 911m - 6, 270ft)

 France (Provence-Alpe-Côte-d'Azur)  

In The mont Ventoux from west , oil on cardboard, (not signed), Private collection, France

 

One can notice that there is not a single tree on those paintings of the Mont Ventoux, which is no longer the case today. This is the result of an intensive reforestation policy carried out by the French State services on this mountain which had been devastated by the forestry exploitation in the late 19th and the early 20th century.

The mountain 

Mont Ventoux  (1, 911m - 6, 270ft), Ventor in Latin, is located in the French department of Vaucluse (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur). It is about 25 kilometers long on an east-west for 15 kilometers wide on a north-south axis. Nicknamed the Giant of Provence, it is the culmination of the Monts du Vaucluse, the ultimate link of the Southern Alps and the highest peak of Vaucluse. Its geographical isolation makes it visible over great distances.

The painter 

Paul Surtel is a French painter and epistolier, the son of a family of coffee makers and restaurateurs living in the Paris region. Fernand Maillaud, the "good master",  a landscape painter, very good friend of Paul's father, introduced him very early to painting. In1904, Paul Surtel went up to Paris,at the Lycée Charlemagne and the Arts Décoratifs, but especially at the "l'école buissonnière", visiting  museums and exhibitions in the galleries of Paris instead to go to school ! He then became passionate for Rembrandt and especially Corot (who greatly influenced him).
At the end of the First World War, he was enlisted as an artilleryman (at the beginning of 1917). From Seine and Marne in Lorraine, Belgium, Somme, he went from offensive to cantonments. Then he allows himself to be taken back by nature, draws, leaves emotion to guide his hand, the craft acquiring itself by dint of attention and work.
Demobilized in Hyères, Paul found a forestry foreman occupation in the Var, and discovered the Provençal nature that would become the source of his work and would make him known as a "regionalist painter", a rather pejorative label to carry in France until very recently.  In 1937, during one of his first exhibitions in Oran (Algeria, at that time French department) Paul Surtel meets Elia Duc, a young teacher in a small the algerian city. They married in 1939. After that follows 48 years of passionate creation and happiness, especially in Peipin, a tiny village in the Alpes of Haute Provence where the couple settled. His paintings radiate tenderness, lightness, effusion, through impalpable matter. After two years in Quercy, then three in Orange, the family settles in Carpentras (Vaucluse), in 1951, where Elia is named professor.
From the 60s, Paul Surtel added landscapes, still-lifes and portraits.

___________________________

2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

HEKLA PAINTED BY ASGRIMUR JONSSON

ÁSGRIMUR JONSSON (1876–1958)

Hekla (1,488m - 4,882ft) 

Iceland

  In Hekla, 1927, oil on canvas 

The mountain

Hekla or Hecla (1,488m - 4,882ft) is a stratovolcano in the south of Iceland. Hekla is one of Iceland's most active volcanoes; over 20 eruptions have occurred in and around the volcano since 874. During the Middle Ages, Europeans called the volcano the "Gateway to Hell".
Hekla is part of a volcanic ridge, 40 km (25 mi) long. The most active part of this ridge, a fissure about 5.5 km (3.4 mi) long named Heklugjá, is considered to be within Hekla proper.  Hekla looks rather like an overturned boat, with its keel being a series of craters, two of which are generally the most active.
The volcano's frequent large eruptions have covered much of Iceland with tephra, and these layers can be used to date eruptions of Iceland's other volcanoes. Approximately 10% of the tephra created in Iceland in the last thousand years has come from Hekla, amounting to 5 km3. Cumulatively, the volcano has produced one of the largest volumes of lava of any in the world in the last millennium, around 8 km3.
The earliest recorded eruption of Hekla took place in 1104. Since then there have been between twenty and thirty considerable eruptions, with the mountain sometimes remaining active for periods of six years with little pause. Eruptions in Hekla are varied and difficult to predict. Some are very short (a week to ten days) whereas others can stretch into months and years (the 1947 eruption started 29 March 1947 and ended April 1948). But there is a general correlation: the longer Hekla goes dormant, the larger and more catastrophic its opening eruption will be.
The most recent eruption was on 26 February 2000.
Hekla is a popular destination for hiking. Following the most recent eruption the path goes most of the way to the summit;  the walk takes 3 to 4 hours.  In spring, skiing is possible on short routes around the rim of the crater. In summer, there are easy (F) mountaineering routes also around the crater rim,  and it is possible to snowcat to the top in winter. The volcano can be reached using the buses to Landmannalaugar 30 km further east, and it is possible to stay or camp at farms in the area. A visitor centre, The Hekla Center at Leirubakki Farm, opened in 2007.

The painter 
Asgrímur Jónsson was an Icelandic painter, and one of the first in the country to make art a professional living. He studied at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen between 1900 and 1903 and traveled widely after graduation. The subjects of his pictures are mostly the landscapes of his home country, particularly mountains. His painting style is similar to the French impressionists like Corot. Some of his pictures also illustrate Icelandic sagas and folk tales.
He was also noted for his murals in various churches in Iceland. A number of his works are on display in the National Gallery of Iceland. Jónsson influenced many artists in Iceland. A short time before he died he had donated his house in Reykjavík to the Icelandic Government along with all those paintings which were at that time in his possession. These consisted of 192 oil paintings and 277 water colours together with a great number of unfinished pictures dating from various periods in his life. During his lifetime Ásgrímur Jónsson was honoured in many ways. He was made honorary professor at the University of Iceland and, in 1933 he was made Grand Knight of the Icelandic Order of the Falcon. He was an honorary member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts and Knight of Dannebrog, first class. He died in 1958 and was buried in Gaulverjabær.

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2017 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

FUJIYAMA / 富士山 BY TAKEUCHI SEIHO / 竹内 栖鳳

TAKEUCHI SEIHO / 竹内 栖鳳 (1864-1942)

Fujiyama / 富士山 (3, 776 m -12,389 ft)

Japan

In Mount Fuji from distant hills,  Private collection 

The mountain 

This is the legendary Mount Fuji or Fujiyama (富士山).

It is located on Honshu Island and is the highest mountain peak in Japan at 3,776.24 m (12,389 ft). Several names are attributed to it:  "Fuji-san", "Fujiyama" or, redundantly, "Mt. Fujiyama". Usually Japanese speakers refer to the mountain as "Fuji-san".  The other Japanese names for Mount Fuji,  have become obsolete or poetic like: Fuji-no-Yama (ふじの山 - The Mountain of Fuji), Fuji-no-Takane (ふじの高嶺- The High Peak of Fuji), Fuyō-hō (芙蓉峰 - The Lotus Peak), and Fugaku (富岳／富嶽), created by combining the first character of 富士, Fuji, and 岳, mountain.

Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–08. Mount Fuji lies about 100 kilometres (60 mi) south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day.

Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone, which is snow-capped several months a year, is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and photographs, as well as visited by sightseers and climbers.

Mount Fuji is one of Japan's Three Holy Mountains (三霊山) along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku. It is also a Special Place of Scenic Beauty and one of Japan's Historic Sites.

It was added to the World Heritage List as a Cultural Site on June 22, 2013. As per UNESCO, Mount Fuji has “inspired artists and poets and been the object of pilgrimage for centuries”. UNESCO recognizes 25 sites of cultural interest within the Mt. Fuji locality.... 

Full Wandering vertexes  entry 

The artist 
Takeuchi Seihō (竹 内 栖鳳) is the artist's name of a Japanese dowering painter of the nihonga genre who was active in the Meiji era in the Shōwa era. His work spans half a century and is considered one of the masters of the pre-war circle of Kyoto painters.
His real name is Takeuchi Tsunekichi.
Very young, Seihō, who was born in Kyoto, likes to draw and wants to become an artist. He is then a student of Shijō School of Traditional Painting.
In 1882, two of his paintings were awarded at Naikoku Kaiga Kyoshinkai, one of the first modern painting competitions in Japan, which launched his career.
During the Universal Exhibition of 1900 in Paris, he traveled to Europe where he studied Western art. After returning to Japan, he created a unique style, combining the realistic techniques of traditional Japanese Shijō-Maruyama schools with Western forms of realism borrowed from Turner and Corot techniques. The result of this meeting becomes one of the main styles of modern ni-honga. His favorite subjects are animals, often in fun poses like a monkey riding a horse. He is also noted for his landscapes.
 In 1909, he became a teacher at the Kyoto Municipal Painting College and also founded his own private school, Chikujokai.
In 1913, Seihō was appointed court painter to the Imperial Agency and in 1919 to the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts (Teikoku Bijutsuin). He is one of the first people to be awarded the Order of Culture when this distinction is made in 1937.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau