LOS FRAILES OR THE ORGANS OF ACTOPAN BY ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT

ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT (1769-1859)
WILHELM FRIEDRICH ( 1760-1820), engraver
The Organs of Actopan or Los Frailes (1,140 m - 3,740 ft)
Mexico (Hidalgo)

In Vues des Cordillères, et monumens des peuples indigènes de l'Amérique from the book  Voyage aux régions équinoxiales du nouveau continent, 1813

About this engraving and the mountain
On May 23 and 24, Humboldt would tour the Actopan Valley, and then leave on May 25 for Mexico City. During the visit, Humboldt drew and studied the Organs of Actopan, also known as Los Frailes,located 17 km southeast of Actopan in the municipality of El Arenal. Humboldt determines their height trigonometrically.In Actopan. The slender part of the rock is a hundred meters high; but the absolute elevation of the summit of the mountain, where the Organos begin to stand out, is 585 toises (1,140 m - 3,740 ft) .  It is on the way from Mexico to the mines of Guanaxuatotjuon distinguishes from very far away, and standing out on Thoiizon, the rock of Mamanchota: it rises in the middle of a forest of oaks, and oflers a very picturesque aspect. 

The artist and explorer
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt was a Prussian geographer, naturalist, explorer, and influential proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher, and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835). Humboldt's quantitative work on botanical geography laid the foundation for the field of biogeography. Humboldt's advocacy of long-term systematic geophysical measurement laid the foundation for modern geomagnetic and meteorological monitoring.
Between 1799 and 1804, Humboldt travelled extensively in Latin America, exploring and describing it for the first time from a modern scientific point of view. His description of the journey was written up and published in an enormous set of volumes over 21 years. Humboldt was one of the first people to propose that the lands bordering the Atlantic Ocean were once joined (South America and Africa in particular). Humboldt resurrected the use of the word cosmos from the ancient Greek and assigned it to his multi-volume treatise, Kosmos, in which he sought to unify diverse branches of scientific knowledge and culture. This important work also motivated a holistic perception of the universe as one interacting entity.
On their way back to Europe from Mexico on their way to the United States, Humboldt and his fellow scientist Aimé Bonpland stopped in Cuba for a while. After their first stay in Cuba of three months they returned the mainland at Cartagena de Indias (now in Colombia), a major center of trade in northern South America. Ascending the swollen stream of the Magdalena River to Honda and arrived in Bogotá on July 6, 1801 where they met Spanish botanist José Celestino Mutis, the head of the Royal Botanical Expedition to New Granada, staying there until September 8, 1801. Mutis was generous with his time and gave Humboldt access to the huge pictorial record he had compiled since 1783. Humboldt had hopes of connecting with the French sailing expedition of Baudin, now finally underway, so Bonpland and Humboldt hurried to Ecuador. They crossed the frozen ridges of the Cordillera Real, they reached Quito on 6 January 1802, after a tedious and difficult journey.
Their stay in Ecuador was marked by the ascent of Pichincha and their climb of Chimborazo, where Humboldt and his party reached an altitude of 19,286 feet (5,878 m). This was a world record at the time, but a thousand feet short of the summit. Humboldt's journey concluded with an expedition to the sources of the Amazon en route for Lima, Peru.
At Callao, the main port for Peru, Humboldt observed the transit of Mercury. On 9 November and studied the fertilizing properties of guano, rich in nitrogen, the subsequent introduction of which into Europe was due mainly to his writings.
___________________________________________
2022 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

LE SOGNEFJORD PEINT PAR JOHAN CHRISTIAN DAHL

Johan Christian Dahl (Norwegian, 1788–1857)
Sognefjord (1000m)
Norvège

In Winter at the Sognefjord (February 1827) Huile sur toile, 75.5 x 61.5 cm. Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo

Le Fjord
Le Sognefjord (plus de 1000 mètres) Sognefjorden en norvégien, est un fjord situé au nord de Bergen, en Norvège. Le Sognefjord est le fjord le plus long d'Europe et le deuxième plus long du monde après le Scoresby Sund au Groenland ; il s'agit également du fjord le plus large de Norvège. Situé dans le comté de Sogn og Fjordane dans l'ouest de la Norvège, il s'enfonce dans les terres sur 204 kilomètres, jusqu'à la ville de Skjolden. Sa profondeur atteint 1 308 mètres en dessous du niveau de la mer. Les profondeurs maximales sont atteintes un peu à l'intérieur des terres : près de son embouchure, le fond du fjord monte de façon abrupte jusqu'à un plateau situé à 100 m en dessous du niveau de la mer. La largeur moyenne du Sognefjord est d'environ 4,5 km. Des falaises le surplombent jusqu'à des hauteurs supérieures à 1 000 m. Parmi les villes situées sur le fjord et ses bras, on peut citer Balestrand, Gudvangen et Flåm. La beauté du fjord en fait une destination touristique très prisée. De nombreuses croisières sont possibles sur le Sognefjord, été comme hiver. Une ligne touristique de chemin de fer, la ligne de Flåm, longe le Sognefjord.

Le peintre
Johan Christian Dahl (ou J. C. Dahl) est un peintre paysagiste norvégien. issu d'un milieu simple : son père étant un pêcheur modeste de Bergen, en Norvège. Enfant, Dahl étudie à la cathédrale de Bergen pour devenir prêtre, mais ses capacités artistique précoces l'amènent à tenter une carrière dans la peinture. De 1803 à 1809, il étudie avec le peintre Johan Georg Müller , dont l'atelier est alors le plus important de Bergen. Il se met à travailler la peinture pour des décors de théâtre, s'essaie à l'art du portrait et des vues de Bergen et de ses environs. Dahl poursuit ses études à l'Académie de Copenhague, ville dont il peint la campagne environnante. En 1812, il écrit à Lyder Sagen, l'un de ses mentors, que Jacob van Ruisdael et Caesar van Everdingen sont parmi les paysagistes qu'il a le plus imités.
 Dahl participe à des expositions d'art annuelles à Copenhague à partir de 1812, mais sa vraie percée se produit en 1815, quand il expose pas moins de treize tableaux. Le prince danois Christian Frederik veille à ce que ses œuvres soit achetées pour la collection royale ; il devient aussi un ami et un mécène de l'artiste. En 1816, Dahl rencontre C.W. Eckersberg et devient son ami. Après son succès à Copenhague, Dahl devient un artiste indépendant. Toutefois, ses préférences académiques demeurent attachées aux peintures historiques véhiculant des messages moraux, ainsi qu'aux paysages pourtant considérés comme un art bas et, dans certains milieux, même pas comme de l'art du tout mais comme une imitation purement mécanique de la nature. Les seuls paysages pouvant être considérés comme de l'art, selon l'Académie, sont des idéaux, des paysages imaginaires dans les styles pastoral ou héroïque. Conformément à ce goût régnant alors, Dahl tente de donner à ses thèmes danois un certain caractère atmosphérique afin de les élever au-dessus de ce qui est alors considéré comme un niveau artistique purement commercial. En même temps, il conserve intact son désir le plus profond de donner une image plus fidèle de la nature norvégienne. Cette volonté reste en partie motivée par la nostalgie et le patriotisme, mais il s'agit également d'une marque d'adaptation de la sensibilité de l'artiste au goût du public. En septembre 1818, Dahl se rend à Dresde. Il y rencontre Caspar David Friedrich qui l'aide à s'y établir et devient un ami proche. Un critique écrit : « Friedrich produit alors des paysages minutieusement exécutés - exemples d'un art informé par son éducation protestante stricte et d'une recherche de la volonté divine dans la nature - qui ont été à juste titre célèbres au moment où il fait la connaissance de Dahl. De cette période, nous sommes en mesure de voir ses Deux hommes contemplant la lune (1819) ; tout comme le tableau Greifswald au clair de lune (1816-1817) qui dépeint la ville natale de l'artiste, en Poméranie, sur la côte de la Baltique: baignant dans un même clair de lune. » De Dresde, Dahl voyage à la campagne pour rechercher des sujets qui pourraient lui être utiles dans les grands travaux qui seraient peints plus tard dans son atelier. Il écrit au prince Christian Frederik en 1818 que « la plupart du temps, [il] représente la nature dans toute sa liberté et sa sauvagerie ». Dahl a assez de matière dans la région de Dresde pour fournir des motifs pour ses peintures, mais il continue à peindre des paysages imaginaires de forêts, de montagnes et de cascades. Par exemple, une peinture intitulée Norsk fjellandskap med elv (Montagnes du paysage norvégien avec un fleuve), achevée en 1819, suscite une grande attention parmi les jeunes artistes. Une autre peinture, représentant une monumentale chute d'eau, est achevée en 1820. La même année, Dahl est accepté à l'Académie de Dresde. Le prince Christian Frederik écrit à Dahl en 1820 depuis l'Italie et l'invite à le rejoindre sur le golfe de Naples. Il y passe finalement dix mois. Ce séjour devient un facteur décisif de son développement artistique. C'est en Italie, avec sa forte lumière méridionale, que l'art de Dahl atteint véritablement son apogée.
Dahl est à Rome en février 1821. Il passe beaucoup de temps à visiter les musées, rencontre des artistes et peint. Parmi les sujets que lui inspire l'Italie, il peint le site de Rome et le golfe de Naples. En tant que membre de l'académie, Dahl consacre toujours une partie de son temps à la formation de jeunes artistes. En 1824, Caspar David Friedrich le nomme professeur extraordinaire, ce qui lui permet de recevoir un salaire régulier. Parmi ses élèves, figurent Knud Baade, Peder Balke et Thomas Fearnley. Avec son épouse, Dahl vit à Dresde à partir de 1823. En 1827, Emilie Dahl meurt quand elle accouche de leur quatrième enfant. En 1829, leur second enfant meurt de la scarlatine. En janvier 1830, Dahl épouse son élève Amalie von Bassewitz, mais elle aussi meurt en couches en décembre de la même année. Quelques années plus tard, son plus jeune enfant meurt, laissant Dahl avec deux enfants survivants, Caroline et Siegwald. Bien que vivant à Dresde, il multiplie les voyages en Norvège, où il se rend en 1826, 1834, 1839, 1844 et 1850, la plupart du temps pour peindre les montagnes. Lors de son dernier voyage en Norvège en 1850, il se découvre vieillissant et très affaibli, bien qu'il s'astreint à continuer de peindre des paysages dans les montagnes. Ce dernier voyage dans son pays natal est toutefois l'occasion pour lui de réaliser plusieurs de ses œuvres parmi les plus saisissantes.

_________________________________________

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

 

MOUNT ARARAT BY GEVORK BASHINJAGHIAN

GEVORK BASHINJAGHIAN  (1857-1925)

Mount Ararat (5,137 m- 16,854ft)
Turkey (since 1921)

In 1912 - National Museum of Fine Arts Erevan (Armenia)

The mountain
There are two mountains in the world called Mont Ararat, One in Turkey, one in United States of America (Pennsylvania). The one we are talking about is Mount Ararat in Turkey, which has a very long and complex political, religious, sacred and mythical history.
Mount Ararat  (5,137 m- 16,854ft)  (Turkish: Ağrı Dağı; Armenian: Մասիս, Masis) is a snow-capped and dormant stratovolcano in the eastern extremity of Turkey.  It consists of two major volcanic cones: Greater Ararat, the highest peak in Turkey and the Armenian plateau with an elevation of 5,137 m (16,854 ft); and Little Ararat, with an elevation of 3,896 m (12,782 ft). The Ararat massif is about 40 km (25 mi) in diameter and  is part of  the range of Armenian Highlands.
Mountains of Ararat  have been perceived as the traditional resting place of Noah's Ark since the 11th century. It is the principal national symbol of Armenia and has been considered a sacred mountain by Armenians. It is featured prominently in Armenian literature and art and is an icon for Armenian irredentism. Along with Noah's Ark, it is depicted on the coat of arms of Armenia.
Mount Ararat forms a near-quadripoint between Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran. Its summit is located some 16 km (10 mi) west of both the Iranian border and the border of the Nakhchivan exclave of Azerbaijan, and 32 km (20 mi) south of the Armenian border. The Turkish–Armenian–Azerbaijani and Turkish–Iranian–Azerbaijani tripoints are some 8 km apart, separated by a narrow strip of Turkish territory containing the E99 road which enters Nakhchivan at 39.6553°N 44.8034°E.
From the 16th century until 1828 Great Ararat's summit and the northern slopes, along with the eastern slopes of Little Ararat were part of Persia, while the range was part of the Ottoman-Persian border. Following the 1826–28 Russo-Persian War and the Treaty of Turkmenchay, the Persian controlled territory was ceded to the Russian Empire. Little Ararat became the point where the Turkish, Persian, and Russian imperial frontiers converged.
The current international boundaries were formed throughout the 20th century. The mountain came under Turkish control during the 1920 Turkish–Armenian War.  It formally became part of Turkey according to the 1921 Treaty of Moscow and Treaty of Kars.  By the Tehran Convention of 1932, a border change was made in Turkey's favor, allowing it to occupy the eastern flank of Lesser Ararat.The Iran-Turkey boundary skirts east of Lesser Ararat, the lower peak of the Ararat massif.
The nationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) party claims eastern Turkey (Western Armenia) as part of what it considers United Armenia.  The Armenian government has not made official claims to any Turkish territory,however the Armenian government has avoided "an explicit and formal recognition of the existing Turkish-Armenian border." According to Turkish political scientist Bayram Balci, regular references to the Armenian Genocide and Mount Ararat "clearly indicates" that the border with Turkey in contested in Armenia.
In a 2010 interview with Der Spiegel, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan was asked: "You can see Mount Ararat, Armenia's national symbol, from the windows of your residence. Today, the mountain is inaccessible, on the other side of the Turkish border. Turkey fears demands for land and compensation. Do you want Mount Ararat back?" Sargsyan, in response, said: "No one can take Mount Ararat from us; we keep it in our hearts. Wherever Armenians live in the world today, you will find a picture of Mount Ararat in their homes. And I feel certain that a time will come when Mount Ararat is no longer a symbol of the separation between our peoples, but an emblem of understanding. But let me make this clear: Never has a representative of Armenia made territorial demands. Turkey alleges this—perhaps out of its own bad conscience? 

Ascents of Mount Ararat
The first efforts to reach Ararat's summit were made in the Middle Ages.  In 13th century, William of Rubruck wrote that "Many have tried to climb it, but none has been able." 
However, it was not until 1829 when Friedrich Parrot and Khachatur Abovian, accompanied with four others, made the first recorded ascent.  Parrot and Abovyan, one high-ranking Armenian Apostolic Church clergyman commented that to climb the sacred mountain was "to tie the womb of the mother of all mankind in a dragonish mode." By contrast, in the 21st century to climb Ararat is "the most highly valued goal of some of the patriotic pilgrimages that are organized in growing number from Armenia and the Armenian diaspora."
The first recorded ascent of the mountain in the modern times took place on 9 October [O.S. 27 September] 1829. The Baltic German naturalist Friedrich Parrot of the University of Dorpat arrived at Etchmiadzin in mid-September 1829, almost two years after Russian capture of Erivan, for the single purpose of exploring Ararat. The prominent Armenian writer Khachatur Abovian, then a deacon and translator at Etchmiadzin, was assigned by Catholicos Yeprem, the head of the Armenian Church, as interpreter and guide. Abovian and Parrot crossed the Aras River and headed to the Armenian village of Agori situated on the northern slope of Ararat 1,220 metres (4,000 ft) above sea level. They set up a base camp at the Monastery of Saint Jacob some 730 metres (2,400 ft) higher, at an elevation of 1,943 metres (6,375 ft). After two failed attempts, they reached the summit on their third attempt at 3:15 p.m. on October 9, 1829.  The group included Parrot, Abovian, two Russian (Cossack) soldiers—Alexei Zdorovenko and Matvei Chalpanov, and two Armenian Agori villagers—Hovannes Aivazian, and Murat Poghossian.   Parrot measured the elevation at 5,250 metres (17,220 ft) using a mercury barometer. This was not only the first ascent of Ararat, but also the second highest elevation climbed by man up to that date outside of Mount Licancabur in the Chilean Andes. Abovian dug a hole in the ice and erected a wooden cross facing north. Abovian also picked up a chunk of ice from the summit and carried it down with him in a bottle, considering the water holy.  On 8 November [O.S. 27 October] 1829, Parrot and Abovian together with the Agori hunter Sahak’s brother Hago, acting as a guide climbed up Lesser Ararat.

Mount Ararat and Noe

 ATHANASIUS KIRCHER (1602-16680)
 - Topography of Paradise as pictured in Arca Noë (1675). 
In the northeast, in the mountains above Armenia stands Mount Ararat,
shown with a rectangular-shaped ark on the summit

JOSEPH PITTON DE TOURNEFORT  (1656-1708)
Mount Ararat  as seen from Ejmiatsin
  in A voyage into the Levant

IVAN AIVAZOVZKY (1817-1900)
Descent of Noah from Ararat (1889)
National Gallery of Armenia

According to the fourth verse of the eighth chapter of the Book of Genesis (Genesis 8:4) following a flood, Noah's Ark landed on the "mountains of Ararat" (Biblical Hebrew: הָרֵי אֲרָרָט, ).[65) Most historians and Bible scholars agree that "Ararat" is the Hebrew name of Urartu, the geographic predecessor of Armenia and referred to the wider region at the time and not the mountain today known as Ararat. The phrase is translated as "mountains of Armenia" (montes Armeniae) in the Vulgate, the fourth century Latin translation of the Bible. Nevertheless, Mount Ararat is considered the traditional site of the resting place of the Noah's Ark and most Christians prefer this view "largely because it would have been the first peak to emerge from the receding flood waters." It has therefore been called a biblical mountain.
According to Arnold, Mount Ararat has been associated with the Genesis flood story since the 11-12th centuries. Bailey suggested that the local Armenian population began to identify it as the ark's landing place in the 11-12th centuries. British orientalist F. C. Conybeare in his 1901 review of Friedrich Murad's book on Ararat wrote that the mountain was "a center and focus of pagan myths and cults [...] and it was only in the eleventh century, after these had vanished from the popular mind, that the Armenian theologians ventured to locate on its eternal snows the resting-place of Noah's ark." Fischer and Drs. Lee Spencer and Jean Luc Lienard name the 13th century Franciscan missionary William of Rubruck as the earliest reference for the tradition of Mount Ararat as the landing place of the ark in European literature. The 14th century English traveler John Mandeville is another early author who mentioned Mount Ararat, "where Noah's ship rested, and it is still there."
Searches for Noah's Ark have traditionally concentrated on Mount Ararat. Augustin Calmet wrote in his 1722 biblical dictionary, "It is affirmed, but without proof, that there are still remains of Noah's ark on the top of this mountain; but M. de Tournefort, who visited this spot, has assured us there was nothing like it; that the top of mount Ararat is inaccessible, both by reason of its great height, and of the snow which perpetually covers it."
Despite numerous reports of ark sightings (e.g. Ararat anomaly) and rumors, "no scientific evidence of the ark has emerged." Searches for Noah's Ark are considered by scholars an example of pseudoarchaeology. Kenneth Feder writes, "As the flood story itself is unsupported by any archaeological evidence, it is not surprising that there is no archaeological evidence for the existence of an impossibly large boat dating to 5,000 years ago."
The Painter 
Quite a lot of painters painted MountArarat since the Middle age. Among the numerous représentations avalaible on the web nowadays, this blog has choosen the on by  Gevorg Bashinjaghian, an Armenian painter who had significant influence on Armenian landscape painting.
Bashinjaghian was born in 1857 in eastern Georgian province of Kakheti, part of the Russian Empire at the time.  In 1878, Bashinjaghian moved to the Russian capital St. Petersburg, where he became a student at the Imperial Academy of Arts a year later.  Mikhail Clodt was one of his teachers. He graduated from the Academy in 1883, also winning a silver medal for his Birch Grove. He returned to his hometown Sighnaghi the same year and soon started to travel throughout the Caucasus: Lake Sevan, Yerevan, Ashtarak and the holy capital of the Armenian Church - Ejmiatsin, Georgia and the Northern Caucasus, which caused the artist to make a row of canvas of the local landscapes. During the next year, Bashinjaghian visited Italy and Switzerland, where he learnt about the classic European art and also saw the Alps. He later wrote that "the Alps are beautiful, but they cannot win your heart if you have seen the Caucasus."
He returned to Russia and settled in Tiflis, the largest city of the Caucasus and the cultural center of Armenians of Russia. In 1890s Bashinjaghian had exhibitions in Moscow, Odessa, St. Petersburg and Novocherkassk. In 1897, he created a series of oil painting of Ani, the medievial Armenian capital of thousand churches. From 1899 to 1901, Bashinjaghian lived in Paris with his wife Ashkhen Katanian and their three children. In France, he made a trip throughout the country and produced over 30 paintings.[2] In 1923 Bashinjaghian became a member of the Armenian Artists' Society.
Bashinjaghian died on 1925 in Tiflis and was buried at the side of Sayat-Nova's tomb in the backyard of Saint George Cathedral.
Exhibitions of Bashinjaghian's works were held in Yerevan, Moscow St. Petersburg and Riga, many of them in 1957-1958, in memory of the 100th anniversary of his birth.
A street in Yerevan is named after him.

THE ZUGSPITZE PAINTED BY CARL ROTTMANN

CARL ROTTMANN (1797-1850)  

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

Germany 

In View of the Eibsee, 1825, oil on canvas,  Neue Pinakothek, Munchen

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 
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.

PARNASSUS PAINTED BY CARL ROTTMANN

CARL ROTTMANN (1797-1850),

Parnassus (2, 457m - 8,061ft)

Greece

In Sikyon mit Parnass, 1839, oil on canvas, Neue Pinakothek Munchen

The mountain 

Parnassus  or Mount Parnassus (2, 457m - 8,061ft), in greek Parnassos (Παρνασσός) which means "the mountain of the house of the god", is a mountain of limestone in central Greece that towers above Delphi, north of the Gulf of Corinth.  According to Greek mythology, this mountain was sacred to Dionysus and the Dionysian mysteries; it was also sacred to Apollo and the Corycian nymphs, and it was the home of the Muses. The mountain was also favored by the Dorians.  Parnassus is one of the largest mountainous regions of Mainland Greece and one of the highest Greek mountains. It spreads over three municipalities, namely of Boeotia, Phthiotis and Phocis, where its largest part lies. Its highest peak is Liakouras. 

This relation of the mountain to the Muses offered an instigation to its more recent "mystification", with the poetic-artistic trend of the 19th century called "Parnassism". The Parnassic movement was established in France in the decade 1866–1876 as a reaction to Romanticism with a return to some classicistic elements and belief in the doctrine "Art for the Art", first expressed by the poet Theophile Gautier. The periodical Modern Parnassus issued for the first time by Catul Mendes and Xavier Ricard contained direct references to Mount.Parnassus and its mythological feature as habitation of the Muses. The Parnassists, who did not exceed a group of twenty poets, exercised a relatively strong influence on the cultural life of Paris, particularly due to their tenacity on perfection of rhyme and vocabulary. Parnassism influenced several French poets, such as Baudelaire, but it also exercised an influence on Modern Greek poets, particularly Kostis Palamas and Gryparis.
The name of the mountain, (Mont Parnasse in french ), was also given to a quarter of Paris on the left banc of the Seine, where artists and poets used to gather. Montparnasse is nowadays one of the most renowned quarters of the city and in its cemetery many personalities of the arts and culture are buried.

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.

PIZ BERNINA BY CARL FRIEDRICH SEIFFERT

 

 

CARL FRIEDRICH SEIFFERT (1809-1891)

Piz Bernina (4, 049 m- 13, 283ft)

Switzerland - Italy border

In View of the Lago di Poschiavo with the Bernina Range, 1859 Oil on canvas, 50.5 x 87 cm Private collection

The mountain
Piz Bernina or Pizzo Bernina (4, 049m- 13, 283ft) is the highest mountain in the Eastern Alps, the highest point of the Bernina Range, and the highest peak in the Rhaetian Alps. It is located south of Pontresina and near the major Alpine resort of St. Moritz, in the Engadin valley with the massif partially in Italy. The mountain can be seen from different viewpoints with the use of ski-lifts from Diavolezza, Piz Corvatsch or Piz Nair. It is also the most easterly mountain higher than 4,000 m (13,000 ft) in the Alps, the highest point of the Swiss canton of Graubünden, and the fifth-most prominent peak in the Alps. The minor summit (4,020 m -13,190 ft) known as La Spedla is the highest point in the Italian Lombardy region. The mountain was named after the Bernina Pass in 1850 by Johann Coaz, who also made the first ascent. The prefix Piz comes from the Romansch language in Graubünden; any mountain with that name can be readily identified as being located in southeastern Switzerland.

The painter
Not a lot of informations about the german academic painter Carl Seiffert specialized in mountains of Switzerland and Italy,  His work has been offered at auction multiple times, with realized prices ranging from $445 USD to $9,530 USD  depending on the size and medium of the artwork. Since 2017 the record price for this artist at auction is $9,530 USD for Blick über die Ruinen des Amphitheaters von Taormina auf Sizilien auf den Ätna, sold at Bassenge in 2017 which one of his most famous.

_______________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

THE WEISSHORN BY WILHELM FRIEDRICH BURGER

WILHELM FRIEDRICH BURGER (1882-1964)

The Weisshorn  (4, 506m - 14, 783ft)

Switzerland (Valais) 

In The Weisshorn from Zermatt, pencil on paper, John Mitchell Gallery, London 

The mountain 

The Weisshorn (4, 506m - 14, 783ft) meaning white peak  in German ) is a major peak of the Swiss Alps. It is part of the Pennine Alps and is located between the valleys of Anniviers and Zermatt in the canton of Valais.  The Weisshorn was first climbed in 1861 from Randa by the Irish physicist John Tyndall, accompanied by the guides J.J. Bennen and Ulrich Wenger. Nowadays, the Weisshorn Hut is used on the normal route. The Weisshorn is considered by many mountaineers to be the most beautiful mountain in the Alps and Switzerland for its pyramidal shape and pure white slopes.

In April and May 1991, two consecutive rockslides took place from a cliff above the town of Randa on the east side of the massif, below the Bis Glacier.

The artist 

One of the leading graphic artists of his time, Wilhelm, or Willy, Burger is widely recognized today for his lithographed posters. Some of these placards now sell for more than his oils and watercolours! However, he was first and foremost a painter by training. He apprenticed in Zurich before leaving for Philadelphia and New York in 1908. After working there for several years, he returned to Zurich from where he would travel throughout the Swiss Alps, the Mediterranean and even Egypt for his commissions. This lofty panorama was painted in 1933 from the best known viewpoint of the monumental peak that straddles the French and Italian borders. Burger’s watercolour skills come to the fore in his rendering of the shadows reaching down the rocks to the Bergschrund above the Glacier du Géant; the small blob of undiluted ultramarine blue in the centre of Burger’s composition conjures the ice and late afternoon cold.

THE DOM AND THE TÄSCHORN PAINTED BY W. F. BURGER

WILHELM FRIEDRICH BURGER (1882 -1964)
The Dom (4,545 m (14,911 ft)
The Täschhorn (4,491 m -14,734 ft)
Switzerland

In The Dom and Täschhorn above Zermatt, watercolour, 30.5 x 37.5 cm.
Courtesy John Mitchell Fine Arts London

 
The mountains
The Dom (4 ,545 m  -14,911 ft)  is a mountain of the Pennine Alps, located between Randa and Saas-Fee in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It is the seventh highest summit in the Alps, overall.  Based on prominence, it can be regarded as the third highest mountain in the Alps, and the second highest in Switzerland, after Monte Rosa. The Dom is the main summit of the Mischabel group (German: Mischabelhörner), which is the highest massif lying entirely in Switzerland. The Dom is noteworthy for its 'normal route' of ascent having the greatest vertical height gain of all the alpine 4000 metre peaks, and none of that route's 3,100 metres of height can be achieved using mechanical means. Although Dom is a German cognate for 'dome', it can also mean 'cathedral' and the mountain is named after Canon Berchtold of Sitten cathedral, the first person to survey the vicinity. The former name Mischabel comes from an ancient German dialect term for pitchfork, as the highest peaks of the massif stand close to each other.
The Täschhorn (4,491 m - 14,734 ft) is  lying south of the Dom within the Mischabel range.  Täschorn is a little lower than Dom but more difficult to access because there is mandatory rock climbing. Täschorn is a 3 sides pyramid.  East face is above Saas Fee, W face is above Täsch (last village before Zermatt), and huge South face is above Täschalp (Ottavan).  Each side belongs a glacier: on Täsch side is Kingletscher, on Ottavan side is Weingartengletscher, on Saas side is Feegletscher. The first ascent of the mountain was by John Llewelyn Davies and J. W. Hayward with guides Stefan and Johann Zumtaugwald and Peter-Josef Summermatter on 30 July 1862. The normal route is on the SE ridge starting from Mischabeljoch. To join the Mischabel pass, it's possible to come from either Saas Fee side or Täsch side.

 
The painter
Wilhelm, or Willy, Burger is nowadays widely recognized as one of the leading graphic artists of his time. His lithograph posters such as, Jungfraubahn. Station Jungfrau: Joch 3457m. Aletschgletscher, 1914 and St. Moritz, 1912are far better known – and more costly – than his oil paintings. However, he was first and foremost a painter by training who apprenticed in Zurich before leaving for Philadelphia and New York in 1908. He returned to Switzerland in 1913 where he set up a studio in Rüschlikon on the west shore of Lake Zürich from where he would travel throughout the Alps, the Mediterranean and as far afield as Egypt for his commissions. Although Burger cannot be categorized as a Symbolist in the strictest sense, his palette, his penchant for jagged outlines and his ethereal skies owe much to Ferdinand Hodler, the leading Swiss painter of the late nineteenth century. Hovering between Realism and Symbolism in style, this late afternoon view over the Zürichsee from the edge of the lake at Rüschlikon is an overt homage to Hodler who painted nearly 150 pictures of the Swiss lakes, many of them in a similar, panoramic format. Burger went so far as to sign his picture with a more spidery signature than usual – a pastiche of Hodler’s.
From 1901 onwards, Hodler began to concentrate on a series of acclaimed visions of Lac Léman (Geneva) in which he delineated horizontal bands of differing colours and tone. As he developed the theme of receding lines across the lake, or ‘parallelism’, as he called it, Mont Blanc and its surrounding peaks were introduced into the background. Hodler died in 1918 but in these late paintings he sought to express his concept of unité – the idea that there was a fundamental order to the universe and the artist’s role was to reveal it.

____________________________________
2022 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

THE HÖHER GÖLL PAINTED BY CARL ROTTMANN

CARL ROTTMANN (1797-1850)

Höher Göll (2,522 m (8,274 ft) 

Germany- Austria Border  

In "Hoher Göll im Alpenglühen ", 1846, Oil on canvas, 88 × 112 cm 

Nuremberg Germanisches Nationalmuseum

The  mountain 
The Höher Göll is a 2,522 m (8,274 ft) mountain in the Berchtesgaden Alps, the highest peak of the Göll massif, which straddles the border between the German state of Bavaria and Salzburg, Austria.
Rising above Obersalzberg near Berchtesgaden, the massif is situated between the Königssee and the Königsseer Ache in the west, opposite the Watzmann, and the Salzach Valley of the Tennengau region in the east. Neighbouring peaks include Hohes Brett, Jenner and the Kehlstein spur with the famous Kehlsteinhaus, linked with the Hoher Göll via the Mannlgrat ridge.
The first documented ascent was made by the ordinand Valentin Stanič from Bodrež in Gorizia and Gradisca, who at that time studied theology at the nearby University of Salzburg and had also climbed the Watzmann peak.
A wide variety of routes lead to its summit, ranging from UIAA Grade I on a Klettersteig up the Mannlgrat ridge to UIAA Grade VIII up the West face.  The Kehlsteinhaus is located on the German side, at 1,834 m. A trail leads from it to the Mannlgrat, the easiest route to the top.
Another popular round-trip ascent of the Hoher Göll is from the Purtschellerhaus mountain hut up to the summit and down to the Stahl-Haus.

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 (of which the one above) were eventually installed in the newly built Neue Pinakothek where they were given their own hall.

___________________________________________

2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

LE VÉSUVE PEINT PAR JACOB PHILIPP HACKERT

JACOB PHILIPP HACKERT (1727-1807)
Le Vésuve (1,281m)
Italie

In  L'éruption du Vésuve en 1774,  huile sur toile ,  70, 5 x 90, 5 cm, Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel


Le volcan
Le Vésuve ou mont Vésuve (Vesuvius mons en latin) est un Somma-stratovolcan italien d'une altitude de 1 281 mètres, bordant la baie de Naples, à l'est de la ville. Il s'agit du seul volcan d'Europe continentale à être entré en éruption durant les cent dernières années, sa dernière éruption datant de 1944. Entré en éruption à de nombreuses reprises au cours des derniers millénaires, il s'agit de l'un des volcans les plus dangereux du monde en raison de sa tendance explosive et surtout de la population importante qui vit à ses abords. Il est ainsi à l'origine de la destruction des villes de Pompéi, d'Herculanum, d'Oplontis et de Stabies, ensevelies en 79 sous les cendres ou une coulée pyroclastique. Il a inspiré de nombreuses légendes et représentations au cours des siècles. La montagne est classée parc national depuis 1995.

Le peintre

Jacob Philipp Hackert nest un peintre paysagiste prussien néoclassique qui commença sa formation artistique dans l'atelier de son père Philipp. Il se rendit, à partir de 1758, à l'Académie des Beaux-Arts de Berlin et en 1761, pour la première fois, deux de ses paysages retinrent l'attention.
Il fut invité par le baron Adolf Friedrich von Olthof à Stralsund, Rügen et Stockholm, où il réalisa des peintures murales. Au cours des années 1765 à 1768 il se rendit à Paris en compagnie de Balthasar Anton Dunker. Il y découvrit, Claude Joseph Vernet, le peintre avignonnais, déjà célèbre pour ses paysages et ses marines, ainsi que le graveur sur cuivre Johann Georg Wille. En 1767, lors d'un séjour en France, Hackert séjourna plusieurs mois dans la résidence de campagne de l’évêque du Mans, Louis-André de Grimaldi. Cette résidence était située à La Chaussée-d'Ivry, il y peignit une gouache sur papier. Après un voyage en Normandie et Picardie, en 1768, il partit avec son frère Georg en Italie, vers Rome et Naples. Il entra en relation avec Johann Friedrich Reiffenstein  et William Hamilton. Voyageant dans toute l'Italie, il se fit une réputation de talentueux peintre paysagiste. Puis, il fut appelé à la cour de Naples, auprès du roi Ferdinand IV de Bourbon. En 1778, de passage dans le Comtat Venaissin, il va véritablement innover en prenant pour la première fois le massif du Mont Ventoux comme seul thème dans son tableau Vue du mont Ventoux depuis les environs de Carpentras. En 1786, de retour à la Cour napolitaine, il y rencontra Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Dès lors les deux hommes se portèrent une estime réciproque. À la suite de l'insurrection des Lazzaroni de Naples, il s'enfuit à Livourne et à Pise, puis s'établit à Florence. Il décéda à San Piero di Carregio dans la campagne florentine. Après sa mort, en 1811, Goethe rédigea sa première biographie.  Il fut en son temps un artiste fort apprécié et contrairement à ses contemporains italiens, tel François Piranèse, qui peignait des paysages héroïques, il chercha toujours la précision et la fidélité.

 

  _________________________________________

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

SOMMERSPIRETAND MØNS KLINT PAINTED BY GEORG EMIL LIBERT

GEORG EMIL LIBERT (1820-1908)  

Sommerspiret  (120 m - 393 ft)

Denmark

In View of Sommerspiret, the Cliffs of Møn, 1846, oil on canvas, mounted on board, 

National Gallery of Art, Washington, Pepita Milmore Memorial Fund

About the painting
In the first half of the nineteenth century, Denmark experienced an artistic “Golden Age”. Following the Napoleonic Wars, the small, peninsular kingdom suffered English naval aggression, the dissolution of its partnership with Norway, and increasing hostility with Germany. As modern Denmark emerged as a constitutional monarchy, artists sought a unifying and stabilizing identity for the nation. Inspired by German romantic nationalism, best represented by the mesmerizing meditations on landscape of Caspar David Friedrich, Danish artists produced meticulous images in crystalline light of their native countryside. In the colors and contours of the Danish landscape, they sought to define a distinctly national spirit.
Here, he pictures the white chalk cliffs of the island of Møn in the Baltic Sea, not far from the island of Rügen where Friedrich painted several celebrated images of chalk cliffs. Much of Demark exists on a plateau of white chalk. In places, the bleach-white earth erupts into the sun, washed by the sea. The tourist destination gained additional appeal from the Sommerspiret, or summer spire, a towering chalk formation gleaming against the bright blue Danish sky. Several Danish Golden Age painters, including Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg and Louis Gurlitt, painted the Sommerspiret. (Alas, in 1988 it naturally eroded into the sea.) The high degree of finish, clear, harmonious tones, and the inclusion of small figures beholding the marvelous scene are classic characteristics of this moment in the history of landscape painting.

The painter  

Georg Emil Libert was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was the son of Johan Christian Libert (1790-1846) and his first wife, Andrea Margrethe Hassing (1796-1820). His father was a cabinetmaker.
He was a graduate of the Royal Academy in Copenhagen where he studied under Johan Ludwig Lund (1777– 1867). In 1845, he applied for travel support from the Academy, which was awarded to him in 1846 with renewed scholarship in 1847. He stayed abroad from 1857-59, especially in Germany and Switzerland. He sought inspiration, especially from the Munich landscape scene.
He exhibited many works in Charlottenborg and at the Kunstforeningen (Art Association). He is best known for his paintings of the Baltic island of Bornholm; indeed one of the cliffs at Helligdomsklipperne, Libert's Rock (Libertsklippen) is named after him.
Many of his works today are in the Danish National Gallery and Thorvaldsens Museum, and are highly sought after by buyers; his painting Ansicht des Heidelberger Schlosses Zwischen der Molkenkur, der Stadt (1859) sold for $11,240 at Sotheby's in Munich in June 1994.

The cliff

Sommerspiret  (120 m - 393 ft) is one of the chalk cliffs  forming Møns Klint, a 6 km stretch of cliffs along the eastern coast of the Danish island of Møn in the Baltic Sea. Some of the cliffs fall a sheer 120 m to the sea below. The highest cliff is Dronningestolen  (128 m- 420 ft).  The area around Møns Klint consists of woodlands, pastures, ponds and steep hills, including Aborrebjerg which, with a height of 143 m - 469ft), is one of the highest points in Denmark. The cliffs and adjacent park are now protected as a nature reserve. Møns Klint receives around 250,000 visitors a year. There are clearly marked paths for walkers, riders and cyclists. The path along the cliff tops leads to steps down to the shore in several locations.
On 29 May 2007, close to the cliff tops, the GeoCenter Møns Klint was opened by Queen Margrethe. The geological museum with interactive computer displays and a variety of attractions for children traces the geological prehistory of Denmark and the formation of the chalk cliffs. The museum was designed by PLH Architects, the winners of an international design competition.

Møns Klint has been a most popular subject for landscape painters, especially during the Danish Golden Age when the national romanticism movement encouraged artists to take renewed interest in the Danish countryside.

_______________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

ACROCORINTH PAINTED BY CARL ROTTMANN

CARL ROTTMANN (1797-1850)
Acrocorinth (575m - 1,886 ft)
Greece

 In Corinth with Akrocorinth, 1847, oil on canvas, Neue Pinacothek Munchen 

The rock formation
Acrocorinth (575m - 1,886 ft) (Ακροκόρινθος) or "Upper Corinth", the acropolis of ancient Corinth, is a monolithic rock overseeing the ancient city of Corinth, Greece. Acrocorinth was continuously occupied from archaic times to the early 19th century. Along with Demetrias and Chalcis, the Acrocorinth during the Hellenistic period formed one of the so-called "Fetters of Greece" - three fortresses garrisoned by the Macedonians to secure their control of the Greek city-states. The city's archaic acropolis, already an easily defensible position due to its geomorphology, was further heavily fortified during the Byzantine Empire as it became the seat of the strategos of the thema of Hellas and later of the Peloponnese. It was defended against the Crusaders for three years by Leo Sgouros.
The highest peak on the site was home to a temple to Aphrodite which was converted to a church in  and then became a mosque. The American School's Corinth Excavations began excavations on it in 1929. Currently, Acrocorinth is one of the most important medieval castle sites of Greece.
In a Corinthian myth related in the 2nd century CE to Pausanias, Briareus, one of the Hecatonchires, was the arbitrator in a dispute between Poseidonand Helios, between the sea and the sun: his verdict was that the Isthmus of Corinth belonged to Poseidon and the acropolis of Corinth (Acrocorinth) to Helios.
The Upper Pirene spring is located within the encircling walls. "The spring, which is behind the temple, they say was the gift of Asopus to Sisyphus. The latter knew, so runs the legend, that Zeus had ravished Aegina, the daughter of Asopus, but refused to give information to the seeker before he had a spring given him on the Acrocorinthus."

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 (of which the one above) were eventually installed in the newly built Neue Pinakothek where they were given their own hall.

THE ROTHENBACHKOPF BY GEORG OSTERWALD

 

GEORG OSTERWALD (1803-1884) 

The Rothenbachkopf (1,315 m - 4,314 ft)

France (Alsace) 

In Vue du Rothenbach, watercolour, 1873. Musées de la Ville de Strasbourg

The mountain
The Rothenbachkopf (1,315 m - 4,314 ft) is a mountain in the High Vosges in France. Only a few metres to the west of the summit runs the Route des Crêtes heading south from the Col de la Schlucht. Several Vosges Clubhiking trails run over the top. A few kilometres north of the Rothenbachkopfs the border between Alsace and Lorraine turns and heads southwest.
The summit ridge is used as a cross-country ski course for the crossing of the Vosges mountains. Great care is recommended in winter because of the cornices, the possible fog and the violent and icy winds that can occur. On 28 December 1965, two inexperienced young German hikers, became lost in the fog and cold and died on the Rothenbachkopf.

The painter
Georg Osterwald was a German teacher, professor, landscape,  architecture and portrait painter,  draftsman, illustrator , etcher and lithographer.
After attending high school Rinteln, his hometown (until 1819), Georg Osterwald was initially a technical draftsman at the Oberbergamt Bonn. He studied painting at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität there , later also with Friedrich von Gärtner in Munich. He was also a drawing teacher at the local construction school.
From 1825 to 1828 he taught drawing at the Fellini Institute in Hofwil near Bern (Switzerland), from 1830 to 1832 in Paris .
In 1835 and 1836 he was, together with Johann Hermann Detmold, editor of the Hannoversche Kunstblätter , which the Kunstverein Hannover published for exhibitions.
Georg Osterwald can be traced in Hanover until 1843, where he worked as a painter.
Later Osterwald was temporarily in Dresden , then in Cologne , where he was appointed professor by King Wilhelm of Prussia in 1864.

_____________________________

2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

MOUNT ETNA PAINTED BY CARL ROTTMANN

CARL ROTTMANN (1797-1950) 

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

 Italy (Sicily) 

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

The Mountain 

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

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

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

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

- More about Mount Etna 

The painter 

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

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

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

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

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.

MOUNT ETNA PAINTED BY CARL ROTTMANN

CARL ROTTMANN (1797-1850)

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

 Italy (Sicily) 

In  Mount Etna and  Taormina,  oil on canvas, 1825, Neue Pinakothek Munchen 

The mountain 

Mount Etna (3,329 m - 10,922ft) or Mongibello, Mungibeddu in Sicilian, Aetna in Latin is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, in the Province of Catania, between Messina and Catania. It lies above the convergent plate margin between the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate. It is the tallest active volcano in Europe. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps. Etna covers an area of 1,190 km2 (459 sq mi) with a basal circumference of 140 km. This makes it by far the largest of the three active volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. Only Mount Teide in Tenerife surpasses it in the whole of the European–North-African region.

In Greek Mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under this mountain by Zeus, the god of the sky and thunder and king of gods, and the forges of Hephaestus were said to also be located underneath it.

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

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

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

Volcanic activity first took place at Etna about 500,000 years ago, with eruptions occurring beneath the sea off the ancient coastline of Sicily.[ About 300,000 years ago, volcanism began occurring to the southwest of the summit (center top of volcano) then, before activity moved towards the present centre 170,000 years ago. Eruptions at this time built up the first major volcanic edifice, forming a stratovolcano in alternating explosive and effusive eruptions. The growth of the mountain was occasionally interrupted by major eruptions, leading to the collapse of the summit to form calderas.

From about 35,000 to 15,000 years ago, Etna experienced some highly explosive eruptions, generating large pyroclastic flows, which left extensive ignimbrite deposits. Ash from these eruptions has been found as far away as south of Rome's border, 800 km (497 mi) to the north.

Thousands of years ago, the eastern flank of the mountain experienced a catastrophic collapse, generating an enormous landslide in an event similar to that seen in the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. The landslide left a large depression in the side of the volcano, known as 'Valle del Bove' (Valley of the Ox). Research published in 2006 suggested this occurred around 8000 years ago, and caused a huge tsunami, which left its mark in several places in the eastern Mediterranean. It may have been the reason the settlement of Atlit Yam (Israel), now below sea level, was suddenly abandoned around that time.

The steep walls of the valley have suffered subsequent collapses on numerous occasions. The strata exposed in the valley walls provide an important and easily accessible record of Etna's eruptive history.

The most recent collapse event at the summit of Etna is thought to have occurred about 2,000 years ago, forming what is known as the Piano Caldera. This caldera has been almost entirely filled by subsequent lava eruptions, but is still visible as a distinct break in the slope of the mountain near the base of the present-day summit cone.

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.