Alexandre Calame

Alexandre Calame painted the Swiss Alps: glaciers, rushing torrents, storm-bent trees and great peaks such as Mont Blanc, the Jungfrau and Monte Rosa. His mountains are dramatic but closely observed, and his oaks and pines are painted with real care.

He was born in 1810 near Vevey and began studying with the landscape painter François Diday in Geneva in 1829, encouraged by a banker patron. He became the leading Swiss landscape painter of his generation, exhibited in Paris and Germany, travelled to Italy and taught in Geneva. His Alpine scenes were popular across Europe, and his work is often linked with the Düsseldorf School. He died in Menton in 1864. Museums in Leipzig, Dresden, Winterthur and Philadelphia hold his work.

In Mountainous Landscape with a Torrent, notice how the dark foreground rocks make the distant snow look brighter.