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Alexandre Calame
Berglandschap, Mid 19th Century View of a Mountain Valley in Switzerland

1840's

About the Item

Mid 19th Century oil on canvas view of a Swiss valley and mountainscape by Alexander Calame. The painting is signed bottom left. The canvas is on a fine stretcher with 'keys'. The painting has been in a private collection in the North of France since the early 20th Century. A very beautiful and expert rendition of one of Calame's iconic Swiss mountain views. Atmospheric view of light and shade, a moody sky with the sun just breaking through over a small mountain cottage retreat. Alex Calame was born in Corsier-sur-Vevey, today a part of Vevey, Switzerland. He was the son of a skillful marble worker in Vevey, but because his father lost the family fortune, Calame could not concentrate on art, but rather he was forced to work in a bank from the age of 15. When his father fell from a building and then died, it was up to the young Calame to provide for his mother. In his spare time he began to practice drawing small views of Switzerland. In 1829 he met his patron, the banker Diodati, who made it possible for him to study under landscape painter François Diday. After a few months he decided to devote himself fully to art. In 1835 he began exhibiting his Swiss-Alps and forest paintings in Paris and Berlin. He became well known, especially in Germany. He is associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting. In 1842 he went to Paris and displayed his works Mont Blanc, the Jungfrau, the Brienzersee, the Monte Rosa and Mont Cervin. He taught in Geneva, where Adolf Mosengel was one of his pupils as were some of the children of the Russian Imperial family of Nicholas I. Alexandre Calame early on became acquainted with the Russian Royal family. In his autobiography the artist noted: "Ces bons rapports avec ces grands personnages m'ont valu des commandes de l'Impératrice régnante de Russie, de l'Impératrice douairière et du Grand Duc Michel. [...] A cette époque, j'ai eu l'honneur de recevoir la visite de sa Majesté l'Impératrice Douairière de Russie qui m'a commandé un tableau dont 2 ans après elle a désiré le pendant; à ce sujet, j'eu l'honneur de me rendre à son invitation à Vevey. - Je ne pourrais dire que je sois insensible à toutes ces marques d'attention de la part de si grands personnages [...]. Leur effet le plus positif est d'attirer sur moi autant, si ce n'est plus d'envie que de considération." There are three paintings of his in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, including the famous landscape painting Paysage aux chênes, L'été from 1859. He went to Italy in 1844 and brought back from Rome and Naples countless paintings, among them one of the ruins of Paestum (now in the city museum in Leipzig). He showed that he was capable of understanding Italian nature; but the Alps remained his speciality. The glaciers, emerald-green, white foaming mountain water, which split the trees during the storm, and the whipped clouds, the multi-coloured rocks, half masked from fog, in the rays of the gleaming sun, these were the elements of nature which he loved to depict . We can see them them in his paintings Handeckfall from Bernese, in Tirol, Lake Lucerne, The Forest Tower (in the urban museum of Leipzig), The Forest Stream (Dresdener gallery). One of his most ingenious works is the representation of the four seasons and times of the day in four landscapes. A spring morning in the south, a summer midday in the Nordic flatlands, an Autumn evening, and a winter night on a mountain. He made his name with these larger works, and then his popularity grew even further through smaller pieces and lithographies, namely 18 studies of Lauterbrunnen and Meiringen and the 24 sheets of Alpine passes. These were widespread in France, England, and Germany and are still today used to teach this style of painting. Calame became a member of the Royal Institute of the Netherlands in 1850. He died in Menton, France, in 1864. An exhibition featuring more than thirty of Calame's paintings was held at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts in 2006. His works are held in major private and national collections worldwide and his works appear regularly for sale at the major auction houses.
  • Creator:
    Alexandre Calame (1810 - 1865, Swiss)
  • Creation Year:
    1840's
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 25.5 in (64.77 cm)Width: 22.75 in (57.79 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)
  • Medium:
    Canvas,Oil
  • Movement & Style:
    Romantic
  • Period:
    Mid-19th Century
  • Condition:
    The painting has been relined (with wax) at some stage in the past and there are areas of expert restoration visible only under UV light. The painting presents very well and is a lovely composition beautifully and expertly painted.
  • Gallery Location:
    Cotignac, FR
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: LG/Calame1stDibs: LU1430210252472
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