LE SALEVE PAINTED BY THEODORE ROUSSEAU

THEODORE ROUSSEAU  (1812-1867)  

  Mont Salève (1, 379 m - 4,524 ft)

France  (Haute-Savoie) 

In Falaises du Salève près de Genève,1834, oil on paper laid down on panel, 

Private collection - Gallery 19C, Beverly Hills  

The Mountain 

Le  Mont Salève (1,379 m - 4,524 ft) is a mountain of the French Prealps located in the departement of Haute-Savoie (France). It is also called the "Balcony of Geneva". Geographically, the Salève is a mountain of the French Prealps but geologically a part of the Jura chain, as the Vuache is.

Below the Salève is the Geneva urban area where more than 700,000 people live. The Salève consists of the Pitons, the Grand and the Petit Salève, and culminates at 1379 meters at the Grand Piton. It is accessible by a cable car since 1932 (rebuilt in 1983), the Salève stretches between Étrembières in the north and the suspension bridge de la Caille in the south. Between 1892 and 1935, the Salève was served by the first electric rack railway in the world.

The eastern side of the Salève dives under the molasse of the Bornes Massif while the abrupt mountain slope facing Geneva is subject to erosion. The vegetation - or its absence - enhances the limestone's layers. This side of the mountain is slit by several narrow and deep gorges, among which the Grande Varappe, which at the end of the 19th century gave its name to the activity of rock climbing in French. This discipline developed intensely there, at a time when it was only beginning.

The Monnetier valley, separating the Petit and the Grand Salève, is due to glaciary erosion. Modern geologists now think that this valley was dug by the subglaciary currents in a fissured region between the Petit and the Grand Salève, and not by the Arve as was assumed earlier.

The Salève occurs on one of the first European paintings depicting a realistic landscape, La Pêche Miraculeuse by Konrad Witz created in 1444 already posted on this blog.

The painter 

Etienne- Pierre-Théodore Rousseau was a French painter of the Barbizon school.  Not to be confused with Henri Rousseau (called Le Douanier), he was born in Paris, of a bourgeois family and received  t first a business training, but soon displayed aptitude for painting.  The influence of classically trained artists was against them, and not until 1848 was Rousseau presented adequately to the public.

In 1848, Rousseau  he took up his residence in the forest village of Barbizon, and spent most of his remaining days in the vicinity. He was now able to obtain fair sums for his pictures (but only about one-tenth of their value thirty years after his death), and the number of his admirers increased. He was still ignored by the authorities, for while Narcisse Virgilio Diaz was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1851,  Rousseau was left undecorated at this time, but was nominated and awarded the Cross soon afterwards. 

At the Exposition Universelle of 1853, where all Rousseau's rejected pictures of the previous twenty years were gathered together, his works were acknowledged to form one of the best of the many splendid groups there exhibited. But, after an unsuccessful sale of his works by auction in 1861, he contemplated leaving Paris for Amsterdam or London, or even New York.

Rousseau's pictures are always grave in character, with an air of exquisite melancholy. They are well finished when they profess to be completed pictures, but Rousseau spent so much time developing his subjects that his absolutely completed works are comparatively few. He left many canvases with parts of the picture realized in detail and with the remainder somewhat vague; and also a good number of sketches and water-color drawings. His pen work in monochrome on paper is rare. There are a number of good pictures by him in the Louvre, and the Wallace collection contains one of his most important Barbizon pictures. There is also an example in the Ionides collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

CIRQUE D'ESTAUBÉ BY THEODORE ROUSSEAU

THEODORE ROUSSEAU (1812-1867)

Cirque d'Estaubé (1,800m - 3,280ft)

France (Occitanie) 

In the Pyrenees (Vue du Cirque d'Estaubé  en été ?), oil on paper laid on canvas,

 Portland Art Museum 

The cirque 
Le cirque d'Estaubé  (1800m- )est un cirque naturel des Pyrénées dans le département des Hautes-Pyrénées. Sa ligne de crête définit en partie la frontière franco-espagnole. Il protège une petite plaine, le plã d'Ailhet, au fond de la vallée d'Estaubé.  Les Principaux sommets de la crête  sont
le pic Rouge de Pailla (2 780 m) ;le grand Astazou (3 071 m) ; le pic de Tuquerouye ou pic de Tuquerouge (2 819 m) ; le pic de Pinède (2 860 m) ; le pic Blanc (2 828 m) ; le pic de la Canau (2 766 m) ; le soum de Port Bieil (2 846 m) ; les pics d'Estaubé (2 810 m).

The painter 

Etienne- Pierre-Théodore Rousseau was a French painter of the Barbizon school.  Not to be confused with Henri Rousseau (called Le Douanier), he was born in Paris, of a bourgeois family and received  at first a business training, but soon displayed aptitude for painting.  The influence of classically trained artists was against  Rousseau and its paintings had to wait until 1848 before to be presented adequately to the public.

In 1848, Rousseau took up his residence in the forest village of Barbizon, and spent most of his remaining days in the vicinity. He was now able to obtain fair sums for his pictures (but only about one-tenth of their value thirty years after his death), and the number of his admirers increased. He was still ignored by the authorities, for while Narcisse Virgilio Diaz was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1851,  Rousseau was left undecorated at this time, but was nominated and awarded the Cross soon afterwards. 

At the Exposition Universelle of 1853, where all Rousseau's rejected pictures of the previous twenty years were gathered together, his works were acknowledged to form one of the best of the many splendid groups there exhibited. But, after an unsuccessful sale of his works by auction in 1861, he contemplated leaving Paris for Amsterdam or London, or even New York. Rousseau's pictures are always grave in character, with an air of exquisite melancholy. They are well finished when they profess to be completed pictures, but Rousseau spent so much time developing his subjects that his absolutely completed works are comparatively few. He left many canvases with parts of the picture realized in detail and with the remainder somewhat vague; and also a good number of sketches and water-color drawings. His pen work in monochrome on paper is rare. There are a number of good pictures by him in the Louvre, and the Wallace collection contains one of his most important Barbizon pictures. There is also an example in the Ionides collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

THE MONT SAINT-MICHEL BY THEODORE ROUSSEAU

THEODORE ROUSSEAU (1812-1867)  

Mont Saint Michel (92m-302ft) 

France (Normandie)

                                                               

The mount  

Le Mont-Saint-Michel (92 m - 302 ft) is an island commune in Normandy, France. Mont Saint-Michel (first called Mont Tombe) consists of leucogranite, which solidified from an underground intrusion of molten magma about 525 million years ago, during the Cambrian period, as one of the younger parts of the Mancellian granitic batholith. Early studies of Mont Saint-Michel by French geologists sometimes describe the leucogranite of the Mont as "granulite", but this granitic meaning of granulite is now obsolete.

It is located about one kilometre (0.6 miles) off the country's northwestern coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches and is 100 hectares (247 acres) in size.

The island has held strategic fortifications since ancient times and since the 8th century AD has been the seat of the monastery from which it draws its name. The structural composition of the town exemplifies the feudal society that constructed it: on top, God, the abbey and monastery; below, the great halls; then stores and housing; and at the bottom, outside the walls, houses for fishermen and farmers. The commune's position - on an island just 600 m from land - made it accessible at low tide to the many pilgrims to its abbey, but defensible as an incoming tide stranded, drove off, or drowned would-be assailants. The Mont remained unconquered during the Hundred Years' War; a small garrison fended off a full attack by the English in 1433.  The reverse benefits of its natural defence were not lost on Louis XI, who turned the Mont into a prison. Thereafter the abbey began to be used more regularly as a jail during the monarchy.

One of France's most recognizable landmarks, visited by more than 3 million people each year, Mont Saint-Michel and its bay are on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

 Over 60 buildings within the commune are protected in France as  "Monuments historiques" (Historical buildings).

In the 11th century, the italian architect William di Volpiano was chosen by Richard II, Duke of Normandy, to be the building contractor of the Mont Saint-Michel church. He designed the Romanesque church of the abbey, daringly placing the transept crossing at the top of the mount. Many underground crypts and chapels had to be built to compensate for this weight; these formed the basis for the supportive upward structure that can be seen today.

Robert de Thorigny, a great supporter of Henry II of England (also Duke of Normandy), reinforced the structure of the buildings and built the main façade of the church in the 12th century.

In 1204, Guy de Thouars, regent for the Duchess of Brittany, as vassal of the King of France, undertook a siege of the Mount. After having set fire to the village and having massacred the population, he was obliged to beat a retreat under the powerful walls of the abbey. The buildings, and the roofs fell prey to the flames. Horrified by the cruelty and the exactions of his Breton ally, Philip Augustus offered Abbot Jordan a grant for the construction of a new Gothic architectural set which included the addition of the refectory and cloister.

Charles VI is credited with adding major fortifications to the abbey-mount, building towers, successive courtyards, and strengthening the ramparts.

Since 2001, a community of monks and nuns of the Monastic Fraternities of Jerusalem, sent from the mother-house of St-Gervais-et-St-Protais in Paris, have been living as a community on Mont Saint-Michel. They replaced the Benedictine monks who returned to the Mount in 1966. They are tenants of the centre for National Historical Monuments and are not involved in the management of the abbey. The community meets four times a day to recite the liturgical office in the abbey itself (or in the crypt of Notre-Dame des Trente Cierges in winter). In this way, the building keeps its original purpose as a place of prayer and singing the glory of God. The presence of the community attracts many visitors and pilgrims who come to join in the various liturgical celebrations.

In 2012, the community undertook the renovation of a house on the Mount, the Logis Saint-Abraham, which is used as a guest house for pilgrims on retreat.

The painter 

Etienne- Pierre-Théodore Rousseau was a French painter of the Barbizon school.  Not to be confused with Henri Rousseau (called Le Douanier), he was born in Paris, of a bourgeois family and received  at first a business training, but soon displayed aptitude for painting.  The influence of classically trained artists was against  Rousseau and its paintings had to wait until 1848 before to be presented adequately to the public.

In 1848, Rousseau took up his residence in the forest village of Barbizon, and spent most of his remaining days in the vicinity. He was now able to obtain fair sums for his pictures (but only about one-tenth of their value thirty years after his death), and the number of his admirers increased. He was still ignored by the authorities, for while Narcisse Virgilio Diaz was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1851,  Rousseau was left undecorated at this time, but was nominated and awarded the Cross soon afterwards. 

At the Exposition Universelle of 1853, where all Rousseau's rejected pictures of the previous twenty years were gathered together, his works were acknowledged to form one of the best of the many splendid groups there exhibited. But, after an unsuccessful sale of his works by auction in 1861, he contemplated leaving Paris for Amsterdam or London, or even New York. Rousseau's pictures are always grave in character, with an air of exquisite melancholy. They are well finished when they profess to be completed pictures, but Rousseau spent so much time developing his subjects that his absolutely completed works are comparatively few. He left many canvases with parts of the picture realized in detail and with the remainder somewhat vague; and also a good number of sketches and water-color drawings. His pen work in monochrome on paper is rare. There are a number of good pictures by him in the Louvre, and the Wallace collection contains one of his most important Barbizon pictures. There is also an example in the Ionides collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

THE MONT BLANC PAINTED BY THEODORE ROUSSEAU

THEODORE ROUSSEAU (1812-1867)

The Mont Blanc (4,808 m - 15,776 ft)

  France - Italy  border

The mountain 

 The Mont Blanc (in French) or Monte Bianco (in Italian), both meaning "White Mountain", is the highest mountain in the Alps and the highest in Europe after the Caucasus peaks. It rises 4,808.73 m (15,777 ft) above sea level and is ranked 11th in the world in topographic prominence.  The Mont Blanc is one of the Seven Summit, which includes the highest mountains of each of the seven continents. Summiting all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first achieved on April 30, 1985 by Richard Bass.  The 7 highest summit, (which are obviously 8 with 2 in Europe !) are :  

Mount Everest (8,848m), Aconcagua (6,961m), Mt Denali or Mc Kinley (6,194m),  Kilimandjaro (5,895m), Mt Elbrus (5,642m), Mount Vinson (4,892m) and Mount Kosciuszko  (2,228m) in Australia.

The mountain lies in a range called the Graian Alps, between the regions of Aosta Valley, Italy, and Savoie and Haute-Savoie, France. The location of the summit is on the watershed line between the valleys of Ferret and Veny in Italy and the valleys of Montjoie, and Arve in France. The Mont Blanc massif is popular for mountaineering, hiking, skiing, and snowboarding.

The three towns and their communes which surround Mont Blanc are Courmayeur in Aosta Valley, Italy, and Saint-Gervais-les-Bains and Chamonix in Haute-Savoie, France.  A cable car ascends and crosses the mountain range from Courmayeur to Chamonix, through the Col du Géant. Constructed beginning in 1957 and completed in 1965, the 11.6 km (7¼ mi) Mont Blanc Tunnel runs beneath the mountain between these two countries and is one of the major trans-Alpine transport routes.

Since the French Revolution, the issue of the ownership of the summit has been debated. 

From 1416 to 1792, the entire mountain was within the Duchy of Savoy. In 1723 the Duke of Savoy, Victor Amadeus II, acquired the Kingdom of Sardinia. The resulting state of Sardinia was to become preeminent in the Italian unification.[ In September 1792, the French revolutionary Army of the Alps under Anne-Pierre de Montesquiou-Fézensac seized Savoy without much resistance and created a department of the Mont-Blanc. In a treaty of 15 May 1796, Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia was forced to cede Savoy and Nice to France. In article 4 of this treaty it says: "The border between the Sardinian kingdom and the departments of the French Republic will be established on a line determined by the most advanced points on the Piedmont side, of the summits, peaks of mountains and other locations subsequently mentioned, as well as the intermediary peaks, knowing: starting from the point where the borders of Faucigny, the Duchy of Aoust and the Valais, to the extremity of the glaciers or Monts-Maudits: first the peaks or plateaus of the Alps, to the rising edge of the Col-Mayor". This act further states that the border should be visible from the town of Chamonix and Courmayeur. However, neither the peak of the Mont Blanc is visible from Courmayeur nor the peak of the Mont Blanc de Courmayeur is visible from Chamonix because part of the mountains lower down obscure them. A Sardinian Atlas map of 1869 showing the summit lying two thirds in Italy and one third in France.

After the Napoleonic Wars, the Congress of Vienna restored the King of Sardinia in Savoy, Nice and Piedmont, his traditional territories, overruling the 1796 Treaty of Paris. Forty-five years later, after the Second Italian War of Independence, it was replaced by a new legal act. This act was signed in Turin on 24 March 1860 by Napoleon III and Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy, and deals with the annexation of Savoy (following the French neutrality for the plebiscites held in Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna to join the Kingdom of Sardinia, against the Pope's will). A demarcation agreement, signed on 7 March 1861, defines the new border. With the formation of Italy, for the first time Mont Blanc is located on the border of France and Italy.

The 1860 act and attached maps are still legally valid for both the French and Italian governments. One of the prints from the 1823 Sarde Atlas  positions the border exactly on the summit edge of the mountain (and measures it to be 4,804 m (15,761 ft) high). The convention of 7 March 1861 recognises this through an attached map, taking into consideration the limits of the massif, and drawing the border on the icecap of Mont Blanc, making it both French and Italian.Watershed analysis of modern topographic mapping not only places the main summit on the border, but also suggests that the border should follow a line northwards from the main summit towards Mont Maudit, leaving the southeast ridge to Mont Blanc de Courmayeur wholly within Italy.

Although the Franco-Italian border was redefined in both 1947 and 1963, the commission made up of both Italians and French ignored the Mont Blanc issue. In the early 21st century, administration of the mountain is shared between the Italian town of Courmayeur and the French town of Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, although the larger part of the mountain lies within the commune of the latter.

The painter 

Etienne- Pierre-Théodore Rousseau was a French painter of the Barbizon school.  Not to be confused with Henri Rousseau (called Le Douanier), he was born in Paris, of a bourgeois family and received  at first a business training, but soon displayed aptitude for painting.  The influence of classically trained artists was against  Rousseau and its paintings had to wait until 1848 before to be presented adequately to the public.

In 1848, Rousseau took up his residence in the forest village of Barbizon, and spent most of his remaining days in the vicinity. He was now able to obtain fair sums for his pictures (but only about one-tenth of their value thirty years after his death), and the number of his admirers increased. He was still ignored by the authorities, for while Narcisse Virgilio Diaz was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1851,  Rousseau was left undecorated at this time, but was nominated and awarded the Cross soon afterwards. 

At the Exposition Universelle of 1853, where all Rousseau's rejected pictures of the previous twenty years were gathered together, his works were acknowledged to form one of the best of the many splendid groups there exhibited. But, after an unsuccessful sale of his works by auction in 1861, he contemplated leaving Paris for Amsterdam or London, or even New York. Rousseau's pictures are always grave in character, with an air of exquisite melancholy. They are well finished when they profess to be completed pictures, but Rousseau spent so much time developing his subjects that his absolutely completed works are comparatively few. He left many canvases with parts of the picture realized in detail and with the remainder somewhat vague; and also a good number of sketches and water-color drawings. His pen work in monochrome on paper is rare. There are a number of good pictures by him in the Louvre, and the Wallace collection contains one of his most important Barbizon pictures. There is also an example in the Ionides collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
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2018 - 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

FALKENGRUPPE PEINT PAR EDWARD H. COMPTON

 

EDWARD HARRISON COMPTON (1881-1960
Falkengruppe (2,427m)
Autriche (Tyrol)

In "Blick auf die Falkengrupp"

La montagne
Le Falkengruppe est une chaine montagneuse du Karwendel, qui se trouve à l'est de la chaîne du nord du Karwendel. Au sud, il relie le Spielissjoch (1773 m à la chaîne Hinterautal-Vomper. Le plus haut sommet du groupe est le Laliderer Falk (2427 m ).. Le seul sommet plus élevé du Falkengruppe qui peut être atteint sans difficulté d'escalade est le Steinfalk (par l'arête sud,). Les ascensions les plus faciles vers les autres sommets sont généralement des itinéraires IIer. À l'exception de Steinfalk – Mahnkopf, les transitions entre les différents sommets impliquent toujours des ascensions du degré II à IV. Le Falkenkar, entouré du Falkengruppe, se termine dans la Grüne Rinnscharte, qui sert de point de départ à l'ascension du Risser Falken et à la transition de Falkenkar à Steinfalk. La Falkenhütte est une base particulièrement adaptée pour des visites du Falkengruppe.
Principaux sommets (du nord au sud)
Little Falk (2190 m) ; Totenfalk (2131 m) ; Crécerelle (2200 m d'altitude) ; Risser Falk (2413 m) ; Laliderer Falk (2427 m) ; Steinfalk (2347 m) ; Mahnkopf (2094 m d'altitude) ; Ladizköpfl (1920 m)

Le peintre
Edward Harrison Compton (1881–1960), à ne pas confondre avec son père Edward Theodore Compton (1849-1921), était un peintre paysagiste et illustrateur allemand d'origine anglaise. Compton est né à Feldafing en Haute-Bavière, en Allemagne, deuxième fils du célèbre peintre paysagiste Edward Theodore Compton. Il a reçu sa première formation artistique de son père et, après une période d'études à Londres à la Central School of Arts and Crafts, s'est installé en Bavière. Comme son père, il s'est inspiré des Alpes pour devenir un peintre de montagne (« bergmaller ») travaillant à la fois à l'huile et à l'aquarelle. Cependant, une attaque de polio à l'âge de 28 ans l'a obligé à trouver des paysages plus accessibles à peindre en Allemagne, en Angleterre, dans le nord de l'Italie et en Sicile. Il a également fourni des illustrations pour plusieurs livres de voyage publiés par A & C Black. Compton a exposé dans des galeries à Munich et à Berlin, ainsi qu'en Angleterre à la Royal Academy de Londres et à Bradford. Il est décédé à Feldafing en 1960.
Il avait deux sœurs, toutes deux artistes : Marion Compton, peintre de fleurs et de natures mortes, et Dora Keel-Compton, peintre de fleurs et de montagnes. 

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2024 - Gravir les montagnes en peinture
Un blog de Francis Rousseau 

CINQUE TORRI PAINTED BY EDWARD H. COMPTON

EDWARD H. COMPTON (1881-1960)
Cinque Torri (2,361 m  -7,746 ft)
Italy

In "Cinque Torri, Bei Cortina,Süd Tirol", 1930, oil on canvas

The mountains
Cinque Torri  (2,361 m  -7,746 ft) (sometimes named also Cinque Torri di Averau) comprise a small rock formation belonging to Nuvolao group in the Dolomiti Ampezzane (part of the Eastern Dolomites) north-west of San Vito di Cadore and south-west of Cortina d'Ampezzo.  Cinque Torri, as all the other mountains in the area, are made of dolomite, with a particular pale grey colour. The group is formed by five towers (which give the name to the mountain) with a maximum elevation of 2,361 m (Torre Grande). Every "tower" has its own name:Torre Grande, the highest one has three very appealing peaks for rock climbers: Cima Nord, Cima Sud e Cima Ovest. They are located in the south-west area of the valley of Cortina d'Ampezzo, north of the Averau mountain, of which Cinque Torri can be considered a part. In the Cinque Torri area there are the following mountain huts :Rifugio Cinque Torri, m 2,137. During summer it is possible to make excursions in the woods and on paths, among which are the Alta Via 1 of the Dolomites, the "Muraglia di Giau". The towers also provide good and popular rock climbing with various routes at a range of grades up all of the towers.  In winter, Cinque Torri belong to an important ski area, whose tracks are part of the wider Dolomiti Superski area. They are thus linked to the nearby mountains Lagazuoi and Col Gallina. Until a few years ago it was possible to ski only towards Lagazuoi - Col Gallina - Cinque Torri, but beginning in the winter season of 2008–2009, it has been also possible to ski downhill from the Cinque Torri area to the higher area of Falzarego Pass by means of the "Croda Negra" lift and the corresponding track beyond Averau mountain. This area was theater of conflict between Italian and Austro-Hungarian troops during World War I; countless testimonies of the fighting and of the war shelters built by the Italian army are present and have been recently rebuilt, to create an open-air museum with historical itineraries.

The painter
Edward Harrison Compton (1881–1960) not to be confused with his father Edward Theodore Compton (1849-1921) was a German landscape painter and illustrator of English descent. Compton was born in Feldafing in Upper Bavaria, Germany, the second son of notable landscape painter Edward Theodore Compton. He received his early art training from his father, and after a period of study in London at the Central School of Arts and Crafts settled back in Bavaria. Like his father he was inspired by the Alps to become a mountain painter ("bergmaller") working in both oils and watercolour. However, an attack of Polio at the age of 28 meant that he had to find more accessible landscapes to paint in Germany, England northern Italy and Sicily. He also provided illustrations for several travel books published by A & C Black. Compton exhibited at galleries in Munich and Berlin, and also in England at the Royal Academy in London and in Bradford. He died in Feldafing in 1960.
He had two sisters, both of whom were artists: Marion Compton, the flowers and still-life painter, and Dora Keel-Compton, flower and mountain painter.

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2022 - Wandering Vertexes...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

THE ROTWAND BY EDWARD H. COMPTON

 EDWARD H. COMPTON  (1861-1960)

Rotwand (1,884 m - 6,181 ft) 

Germany (Bavaria)

The mountain 
The Rotwand ("Red Wall")  (1,884 m - 6,181 ft) is a high peak in the Mangfall Mountains in Bavaria, the highest summit in the Spitzingsee region and one of the most popular of Munich's local mountains. The summit may be reached in an easy hike from the lake of Spitzingsee on various routes. The summit can be attained even more easily from the nearby mountain station on the Taubenstein and, as a result, can often become rather overcrowded on summer's days.
In winter the Rotwand is frequently climbed by skiers. The classic Rotwand-Reib’n runs from the Spitzingsee to the Rotwand, then over the Kümpflscharte arête (1,695 m) to the Auerspitz summit (1,811 m), continuing via the alpine pasture of Großtiefentalalm (1,500 m), the Miesing saddle (1,704 m; with detours to the Hochmiesing), Kleintiefentalalm and Taubensteinhaus and back to the Spitzingsee. This tour is also possible with snowshoes.
The "problem bear", JJ1 (also known as Bruno), was believed to be the first wild bear on German soil for 170 years. He was declared a threat to humans and killed on 26 June 2006 around 4.50 am in the Rotwand area after he had been seen at the Rotwandhaus.

The painter
The painter Edward Harrison Compton (1881–1960) not to be confused with his father Edward Theodore Compton (1849-1921) was a German landscape painter and illustrator of English descent. Compton was born in Feldafing in Upper Bavaria, Germany, the second son of notable landscape painter Edward Theodore Compton. He received his early art training from his father, and after a period of study in London at the Central School of Arts and Crafts settled back in Bavaria. Like his father he was inspired by the Alps to become a mountain painter ("bergmaller") working in both oils and watercolour. However, an attack of Polio at the age of 28 meant that he had to find more accessible landscapes to paint in Germany, England northern Italy and Sicily. He also provided illustrations for several travel books published by A & C Black. Compton exhibited at galleries in Munich and Berlin, and also in England at the Royal Academy in London and in Bradford. He died in Feldafing in 1960.
He had two sisters, both of whom were artists: Marion Compton, the flowers and still-life painter, and Dora Keel-Compton, flower and mountain painter.

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

DIE WILDSPITZE PAINTED BY EDWARD H. COMPTON

EDWARD H. COMPTON (1861-1960), 

The Wildspitze (3,774 m - 12, 382ft) and the Pitzal Glacier 

Austria (Tyrol) 

In The Pitzal glacier at the foot of the Wildsptize, Tyrol,  oil on canvas, 

The mountain and the glacier 
The Wildspitze (3,774 m - 12, 382ft)  is the highest summit of the Otzal Massif in Austria (Tyrol). At its foot lies the Pitztal Glacier (Pitztaler Gletscher), the highest ski glacier in the Tyrol. Located 100 km from Innsbruck International Airport and 38 km from Imst-Pitztal Station, at the end of the Pitze Valley in the Eastern Alps, the Pitztal Glacier Alpine Ski Area enjoys a snow of quality and a long season because of its altitude and its privileged situation.
The ski area of the Pitztal Glacier is made up of wide tracks like boulevards, suitable for carving. It is more oriented towards skiers at intermediate levels, sportsmen to experts.

The painter 

Edward Harrison Compton (1881–1960) not to be confused with his father Edward Theodore Compton (1849-1921) was a German landscape painter and illustrator of English descent. Compton was born in Feldafing in Upper Bavaria, Germany, the second son of notable landscape painter Edward Theodore Compton. He received his early art training from his father, and after a period of study in London at the Central School of Arts and Crafts settled back in Bavaria. Like his father he was inspired by the Alps to become a mountain painter ("bergmaller") working in both oils and watercolour. However, an attack of Polio at the age of 28 meant that he had to find more accessible landscapes to paint in Germany, England northern Italy and Sicily. He also provided illustrations for several travel books published by A & C Black. Compton exhibited at galleries in Munich and Berlin, and also in England at the Royal Academy in London and in Bradford. He died in Feldafing in 1960.
He had two sisters, both of whom were artists: Marion Compton, the flowers and still-life painter, and Dora Keel-Compton, flower and mountain painter.
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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

ZUGSPITZE & WAXENSTEIN BY EDWARD H. COMPTON

 

EDWARD H. COMPTON (1861-1960)
Die Zugspitze (2, 962 m - 9, 718 ft) 
Die Waxenstein (2,277m - 7,470ft)
Germany (Bavaria)

In  Blick vom wank auf Alpspitze, Zugspitze und Waxenstein, 1949

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.
More about the mountain 

The Waxenstein (2,277m - 7,470ft) is an Alpine summit, at an altitude of 2,227 m, in the Wetterstein, Germany (Bavaria). It is composed of five points: the Großer Waxenstein ; the Vorderer Waxenstein  ; the Zwölferkopf ; the Mittagscharte and  the Männ.

The painter 
Edward Harrison Compton (1881–1960) not to be confused with his father Edward Theodore Compton (1849-1921) was a German landscape painter and illustrator of English descent. Compton was born in Feldafing in Upper Bavaria, Germany, the second son of notable landscape painter Edward Theodore Compton. He received his early art training from his father, and after a period of study in London at the Central School of Arts and Crafts settled back in Bavaria. Like his father he was inspired by the Alps to become a mountain painter ("bergmaller") working in both oils and watercolour. However, an attack of Polio at the age of 28 meant that he had to find more accessible landscapes to paint in Germany, England northern Italy and Sicily. He also provided illustrations for several travel books published by A & C Black. Compton exhibited at galleries in Munich and Berlin, and also in England at the Royal Academy in London and in Bradford. He died in Feldafing in 1960.
He had two sisters, both of whom were artists: Marion Compton, the flowers and still-life painter, and Dora Keel-Compton, flower and mountain painter.

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau 

LE HOCHTRON PEINT PAR EDWARD H. COMPTON

EDWARD H. COMPTON (1861-1960),
Berchtesgadener Hochthron  (1973m)

Allemagne (Bavière)

In "Die wallfahrtskirche Maria Gern mit blick auf den Untersberg", huile sur toile

 

La montagne

Le Berchtesgadener Hochthron (littéralement « Haut Trône de Berchtesgaden ») (1 972 m est  le point culminant du chaînon de l'Untersberg dans les Alpes de Berchtesgaden, en Allemagne (Bavière) proche de la frontière avec l'Autriche (Salzbourg). Le sommet offre une excellente vue sur la cuvette de Berchtesgaden, le Königssee et les massif montagneux environnants : les Alpes du Chiemgau, les massifs de Tennen et du Salzkammergut.
 

 Le peintre
Edward Harrison Compton est un peintre et illustrateur allemand d'origine britannique. Né en  Bavière, il est le second fils du peintre Edward Theodore Compton (1849-1921) né en Angleterre. Il a contracté la poliomyélite à l'âge de 20 ans, et a été en fauteuil roulant les 20 dernières années de sa vie. Ses œuvres ont été exposées en particulier à l'Académie Royale de Londres, ainsi qu'à Munich et Berlin. Il a deux sœurs, Marion Compton, peintre de fleurs, et Dora Keel-Compton, peintre de fleurs et de montagnes.

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2025 - Gravir les montagnes en peinture
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

 

 

MOUNT TAMALPAIS PAINTED BY WILLIAM KEITH

WILLIAM KEITH (1838-1911)  

Mount Tamalpais (784m -  2,571 ft)  

 United State of America (California)

  In Sunset Glow on Mt Tamalpais, oil on canvas, 1896 Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

The mountain 
Mount Tamalpais (784m -  2,571 ft)  known locally as Mount Tam is a peak in Marin County, California, United States, often considered symbolic of Marin County.  The name Tamalpais was first recorded in 1845. It comes from the Coast Miwok name for this mountain, támal pájiṣ, literally "west hill". Much of Mount Tamalpais is protected within public lands such as Mount Tamalpais State Park, the Marin Municipal Water District watershed, and National Park Service land, such as Muir Woods. Mount Tamalpais is the highest peak in the Marin Hills, which are part of the Northern California Coast Ranges.
Mount Tamalpais provides one of the last remaining wildlife refuges in the Bay Area. Urbanization has invaded wildlife habitat, forcing many fauna in southern Marin County to retreat up onto Mount Tamalpais, Muir Woods, and the Bolinas Ridge. A wide variety of avifauna, amphibians, arthropods and mammals are found on Mount Tamalpais, including a number of rare and endangered species. Nonetheless, Mt. Tamalpais and the neighboring Golden Gate Recreation Area together encompass over 115 square miles (298 square kilometers) of land, forming one of the largest preserved parklands located near a U.S. urban center.
Mount Tamalpais has been a common subject in California landscape painting. Painters who have made Tamalpais the subject of one or more paintings include Etel Adnan, Harry Cassie Best, Albert Bierstadt, Norton Bush, Russell Chatham, Edwin Deakin, Percy Gray, Ransome Gillett Holdridge, Tom Killion, William Marple, William Birch McMurtrie, Gilbert Munger, Julian Rix, Frederick Schafer, Jules Tavernier, Nancy Wallace, Thaddeus Welch, Ludmilla Welch, Virgil Williams, Jack Wisby, Theodore Wores, and Raymond Dabb Yelland.

The painter
William Keith (November 18, 1838 – April 13, 1911) was a Scottish-American painter famous for his California landscapes. He is associated with Tonalism and the American Barbizon school. Although most of his career was spent in California, he started out in New York, made two extended study trips to Europe, and had a studio in Boston in 1871-72 and one in New York in 1880.
When Keith went to California, and traveled to Yosemite Valley in the 70' with a letter of introduction to John Muir. The two men became deep friends for the next 38 years. Both had been born in Scotland the same year, and they shared a love for the mountains of California. James Mitchell Clarke described their friendship as one "in which deep affection and admiration were expressed through a kind of verbal boxing, counter-jibe answering jibe, counter-insult responding to insult."
During the 1870s Keith painted a number of six- by ten-foot panoramas, including Kings River Canyon (Oakland Museum, originally owned by Gov. Leland Stanford) and "California Alps" (Mission Inn, Riverside). These competed with paintings of similar size and subject matter by Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Hill.
 "My subjective pictures are the ones that come from the inside. I feel some emotion and I immediately paint a picture that expresses it. The sentiment is the only thing of real value in my pictures, and only a few people understand that. Suppose I want to paint something recalling meditation or repose. If people do not feel that sensation when my work is completed, they do not appreciate nor realize the picture. The fact that they like it means nothing. Any one who can use paint and brushes can paint a true scene of nature — that is an objective picture. The artist must not depend on extraneous things. There is no reality in his art if he must depend on outside influences — it must come from within."
 ( From 1913 Exhibition booklet, Art Institute of Chicago)

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

LE CAP ZAFFERANO PEINT PAR EDWARD H. COMPTON

 

EDWARD H. COMPTON (1861-1960)
Cap Zafferano (n.d)
Italie (Sicile)

In Capo Zafferano bei Palermo, aquarelle, 1934

Le cap
Le Cap Zafferano est un petit promontoire qui s'avance dans la mer Tyrrhénienne et appartient au territoire de Santa Flavia, dans la ville métropolitaine de Palerme. De là, en direction de l'ouest, commence le golfe de Palerme, surplombé par la Conca d'Oro. D'un point de vue géologique, le promontoire représente une ramification des monts de Palerme, résultant de la superposition tectonique de deux domaines principaux : la plate-forme carbonatée de Panormide, calcareuse-dolomitique, et le bassin d'Imerese, silicoclastique. Le promontoire de Capo Zafferano et le Monte Catalfano adjacent, d'une superficie totale de 321,66 hectares, ont été déclarés Site d'Intérêt Communautaire (SIC), sur la base de la Directive Habitats 92/43/CEE.
Depuis Palerme, on y accède par la SS 113 en empruntant la route qui y mène, immédiatement après la bifurcation pour Bagheria. De cette bifurcation, continuer en direction d'Aspra, puis suivre les indications pour Mongerbino. À proximité se trouve la ville de Solanto, célèbre pour son ancienne pêcherie de thon aujourd'hui disparue. Derrière elle se trouve le site archéologique de Solunto.

Le peintre
Edward Harrison Compton est un peintre et illustrateur allemand d'origine britannique. Né en  Bavière, il est le second fils du peintre Edward Theodore Compton (1849-1921) né en Angleterre. Il a contracté la poliomyélite à l'âge de 20 ans, et a été en fauteuil roulant les 20 dernières années de sa vie. Ses œuvres ont été exposées en particulier à l'Académie Royale de Londres, ainsi qu'à Munich et Berlin. Il a deux sœurs, Marion Compton, peintre de fleurs, et Dora Keel-Compton, peintre de fleurs et de montagnes.

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2025 - Gravir les montagnes en peinture
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

ATARAIPU ROCK SKETCHED BY CHARLES BENTLEY

 CHARLES BENTLEY (1805-1854)

Ataraipu Rock  (137 m  - 450 ft)

Guyana

In Ataraipu or the Devil's Rock from 12 from Views in the Interior of Guiana, 

after sketches taken during the expedition   

Published by London: Whitehead & Co. for Ackerman & Co., 1841

.

The cliff
Ataraipu Rock is a cliff in Guyana (South America), located in the Upper Takatu-Upper Esseqiubo region  in the southern part of the country, 400 km south of the capital Georgetown.
The terrain around Ataraipu Rock is mainly flat. Ataraipu Rock is located in a valley. The highest point nearby is 350 meters above sea level, 4.1 km northwest of Ataraipu Rock. The area around Ataraipu Rock is almost unpopulated, with less than two inhabitants per square kilometer.  There are no communities nearby. In the surroundings around Ataraipu Rock, mainly green-green deciduous forest grows. Savanna hclimate prevails in the area.

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

THE WATZMANN BY EDWARD T. COMPTON

EDWARD T. COMPTON (1849-1921) 

The Watzmann (2, 713m - 8, 901ft) 

Germany 

In The Watzmann seen from the Hotel Post in Berchtesgaden, Bavaria, watercolour, 26 x 23, 5cm) 

Courtesy William Mitchell Gallery, London 

The mountain
The Watzmann (2,713m - 8,901ft) is a mountain in the Bavarian Alps south of the village of Berchtesgaden. It is the third highest in Germany, and the highest located entirely on German territory. Three main peaks array on a N-S axis along a ridge on the mountain's taller western half: Hocheck (2,651 m), Mittelspitze (Middle Peak, 2,713 m) and Sьdspitze (South Peak, 2,712 m).
The Watzmann massif also includes the 2,307 m Watzmannfrau (Watzmann Wife, also known as Kleiner Watzmann or Small Watzmann), and the Watzmannkinder (Watzmann Children), five lower peaks in the recess between the main peaks and the Watzmannfrau.
The entire massif lies inside Berchtesgaden National Park.
The Watzmann Glacier is located below the famous east face of the Watzmann in the Watzmann cirque and is surrounded by the Watzmanngrat arête, the Watzmannkindern and the Kleiner Watzmann. The size of the glacier reduced from around 30 hectares (74 acres) in 1820 until it split into a few fields of firn, but between 1965 and 1980 it advanced significantly again and now has an area of 10.1 hectares (25 acres). Above and to the west of the icefield lie the remains of a transport-bomber that crashed in October 1940.
Amongst the other permanent snow and icefields the Eiskapelle ("Ice Chapel") is the best known due to its easy accessibility from St. Bartholomä. The Eiskapelle may well be the lowest lying permanent snowfield in the Alps. Its lower end is only 930 metres high in the upper Eisbach valley and is about an hour's walk from St. Bartholomä on the Königssee. The Eiskapelle is fed by mighty avalanches that slide down from the east face of the Watzmann in spring and accumulate in the angle of the rock face. Sometimes a gate-shaped vault forms in the ice at the point where the Eisbach emerges from the Eiskapelle. Before entering there is an urgent warning sign that others have been killed by falling ice.
In the east face itself is another icefield in the so-called Schöllhorn cirque, called the Schöllhorneis, which is crossed by the Kederbach Way (Kederbacher-Weg). The cirque and icefield are named after the Munich citizen, Christian Schöllhorn, who was the first victim on the east face. On 26 May 1890 he fell at the upper end of the icefield into the randkluft and was fatally injured. Another small nameless snowfield is located several hundred metres below the Mittelspitze also in the east face.


The painter
Edward Theodore Compton, usually referred to as E. T. Compton was an English-born, German artist, illustrator and mountain climber, not to be confused with his son Edward Harrison Compton, also a mountain painter. He is well known for his paintings and drawings of alpine scenery, and as a mountaineer made 300 major ascents including no fewer than 27 first ascents.

Initially painting in the English romantic tradition, Compton later developed a more realistic representation of nature, being guided by his true artistic ideas while retaining topographical accuracy. Even his early watercolors show the great importance of brightness and light and his work is also remarkable for its portrayal of the elements such as water and air, including ascending mist and fog. He can be regarded as an impressionist.
He attended various art schools, including, for a time, the Royal Academy in London, but otherwise he was mainly self-taught in art. In 1867, wanting the best education for their artistically-talented son, and due to the high cost of schooling in England, the family decided to emigrate to Germany settling in Darmstadt. The city at that time was the seat of the Grand Duchy of Hesse under Grand Duke Ludwig III, and a community of artists had sprung up there. Entries in Compton's diary show that both he and his father were art teachers - Alice, the Princess of Hesse numbered amongst Edward's students.
_________________________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

LE MASSIF DU WETTERSTEIN PEINT PAR EDWARD H. COMPTON

EDWARD H. COMPTON  (1861-1960)
Le Wetterstein (2 ,962 m)
Allemagne- Autriche

In  Un blick auf Wettersteingebirge, darunter schloss elmaug, huile ur toile

 

 La montagne

Le Wetterstein (littéralement Pierre dy temps ) est un massif des Préalpes orientales septentrionales. Il s'élève entre l'Autriche (Land du Tyrol) et l'Allemagne (Bavière). La Zugspitze est le point culminant du massif, ainsi que de l'Allemagne. Le massif est entouré par les Préalpes bavaroises au nord-est, les Karwendel à l'est, les Alpes de Stubai au sud, les Alpes de l'Ötztal au sud-ouest, les Alpes de Lechtal à l'ouest et les Alpes d'Ammerg au au nord-ouest. Il est bordé au sud par l'Inn et à l'ouest et au nord-ouest par le Loisach. Il est également traversé en direction de l'est par le Leutascher AcheAu sud de ce dernier, on distingue habituellement le chaînon de Mieming (Mieminger Kette) du reste du massif.

Le peintre 

Edward Harrison Compton est un peintre et illustrateur allemand d'origine britannique. Né  Bavière, il est le second fils du peintre Edward Theodore Compton  (1849-1921) né en Angleterre. Il a contracté la poliomyélite à l'âge de 20 ans, et a été en fauteuil roulant les 20 dernières années de sa vie. Ses œuvres ont été exposées en particulier à l'Académie Royale de Londres, ainsi qu'à Munich et Berlin. Il a deux sœurs, Marion Compton, peintre de fleurs, et Dora Keel-Compton, peintre de fleurs et de montagnes.

_________________________________________

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

THE ORTLER BY EDWARD T. COMPTON

EDWARD T. COMPTON (1849-1921)

Ortler (3,905 m -12,812 ft)

Italy (South Tyrol) 

In The Ortler South Tyrol, watercolour on paper,  26 x 37cm, John Mitchell Gallery 

The mountain 
The Ortler (3,905 m -12,812 ft) is the highest mountain in the Eastern Alps outside the Bernina Range. It is the main peak of the Ortler Range. It is the highest point of the Southern Limestone Alps, of the Italian province of South Tyrol, of Tyrol overall, and, until 1919, of the Austrian-Hungarian empire. In German the mountain is commonly referred to as "König Ortler" (King Ortler), like in the unofficial hymn of South Tyrol, the Bozner Bergsteigerlied.
The Ortler Alps were one of the main battlegrounds between Austrian and Italian troops in the First World War, being on the border of Italy and the Austrian Empire. The advantage of owning the highest point was very important. The Austrian troops had quickly occupied the highest peaks, and the Italian troops' main goal, for four years, was to dislodge them from the positions. In the mid-1990s, a mountain guide discovered two guns that had been stationed very near the top of the Ortler but had been hidden by snow ever since. The discovery was kept secret until the 200th anniversary of the first ascent in 2004. The cannons are now on display in a museum in Trafoi.

The painter 
Edward Theodore Compton, usually referred to as E. T. Compton, (1849 – 1921) was an English-born, German artist, illustrator and mountain climber, not to be confused with his son Edward Harrison Compton, also a mountain painter. He is well known for his paintings and drawings of alpine scenery, and as a mountaineer made 300 major ascents including no fewer than 27 first ascents.
Initially painting in the English romantic tradition, Compton later developed a more realistic representation of nature, being guided by his true artistic ideas while retaining topographical accuracy. Even his early watercolors show the great importance of brightness and light and his work is also remarkable for its portrayal of the elements such as water and air, including ascending mist and fog. He can be regarded as an impressionist.
He attended various art schools, including, for a time, the Royal Academy in London, but otherwise he was mainly self-taught in art.

___________________________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

CERRO RORAIMA BY CHARLES BENTLEY

CHARLES BENTLEY (1805-1854) 

 Cerro Roraima (2,810 m - 9,220 ft)

Brazil, Venezuela, Guyana border 

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

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

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

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

CERROS MARAHUACA, PETACA, DUIDA, HUACHAMACARI BY CHARLES BENTLEY

CHARLES BENTLEY (1805-1854)

Cerro Marahuaca (2, 832m - 9,291ft) 

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

Cerro Duida (2,358 m - 7,736 ft) 

Cerro Huachamacari (1900m - 6,200 ft) 

Venezuela 

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

during the expedition carried on in the years 1835 to 1839

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

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

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

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

MONT KATAHDIN PEINT PAR MARSDEN HARTLEY

 

 

 

 

 

MARSDEN HARTLEY (1877-1943)
Mount Katahdin (1,605 m - 5,267ft)
United States of America (Maine)

In Mt. Katahdin Oil on fiberboard, 55.9 x 71.1 cm. (1941) Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC

La montagne
Le Mont Katahdin (1,605 m) est la plus haute montagne de l'État du Maine et le terminus nord du sentier des Appalaches. La montagne, située à un mile au-dessus du niveau de la mer, domine les lacs et les forêts du Maine. Nommé Katahdin par les Indiens Penobscot, ce qui signifie « la plus grande montagne », Katahdin est la pièce maîtresse du parc d'État de Baxter. Le nom officiel est "Mont Katahdin", comme l'a décidé le Conseil américain des noms géographiques en 1893. Parmi certains Amérindiens, Katahdin était considéré comme la demeure du dieu de la tempête Pamola, et donc une zone à éviter.
Il était connu des Amérindiens de la région et des Européens au moins depuis 1689. Il a inspiré des randonnées, des escalades, des récits, des peintures et même une sonate pour piano. La zone autour du sommet fut protégée par le gouverneur Percival Baxter à partir des années 1930. Katahdin est situé à proximité de la Hundred-Mile Wilderness.
La première ascension enregistrée du « Catahdin » a été réalisée par les géomètres du Massachusetts Zackery Adley et Charles Turner, Jr. en août 1804. Dans les années 1840, Henry David Thoreau gravit Katahdin, qu'il écrivait « Ktaadn » ; son ascension est enregistrée dans un chapitre bien connu de The Maine Woods. Quelques années plus tard, Theodore Winthrop a écrit sur l'ascension qu'il fit dans Life in the Open Air. Les peintres Frederic Edwin Church et Marsden Hartley ont souvent peint des paysages de Katahdin.

Le peintre
Marsden Hartley était un peintre, poète et essayiste moderniste américain.
Hartley a commencé sa formation artistique au Cleveland Institute of Art après que sa famille ait déménagé à Cleveland, Ohio, en 1892. En 1898, à 22 ans, il s'installe à New York pour étudier la peinture à la New York School of Art sous la direction de William Merritt Chase, puis fréquente la National Academy of Design. Hartley était un grand admirateur d'Albert Pinkham Ryder et visitait son studio de Greenwich Village aussi souvent que possible. Son amitié avec Ryder, ainsi que les écrits de Walt Whitman et des transcendantalistes américains Henry David Thoreau et Ralph Waldo Emerson, ont largement inscliné Hartley à considérer l'art comme une quête spirituelle. Hartley voyage pour la première fois en Europe en avril 1912 et fait la connaissance du cercle d'écrivains et d'artistes d'avant-garde de Gertrude Stein à Paris. Stein, avec Hart Crane et Sherwood Anderson, encouragéèrent Hartley à écrire ainsi qu'à peindre. En 1913, Hartley s'installe à Berlin, où il continue à peindre et se lie d'amitié avec les peintres Vassily Kandinsky et Franz Marc. Il collectionnait également l'art populaire bavarois. Son travail durant cette période était une combinaison d’abstraction et d’expressionnisme allemand, alimenté par sa marque personnelle de mysticisme. À Berlin, Hartley développa une relation étroite avec un lieutenant prussien, Karl von Freyburg. Les références à Freyburg sont un motif récurrent dans l'œuvre de Hartley, notamment dans Portrait d'un officier allemand (1914). La mort de Freyburg pendant la guerre a durement frappé Hartley. Hartley retourna aux États-Unis au début de 1916 mais Il vécut de nouveau en Europe entre 1921 et 1930, avant de retourner définitivement aux États-Unis. Il peignit alors dans tout le pays, au Massachusetts, au Nouveau-Mexique, en Californie et à New York. Il retourna dans le Maine en 1937, après avoir déclaré vouloir devenir « le peintre du Maine » et dépeindre la vie américaine locale. Il s'alignait ainsi sur le mouvement régionaliste, un groupe d'artistes actifs du début au milieu du 20e siècle qui tentaient de représenter un « art américain » distinct. Il continua à peindre dans le Maine, principalement des scènes autour de Lovell, jusqu'à sa mort à Ellsworth en 1943. La plupart de ses peintures de montagnes du Maine font aujourd'hui partie des collections du MET. 

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2011-2024 - Gravir les montagnes en peinture
Un blog de Francis Rousseau