The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 26, 2024

Alpine Landscape:  The Handegg, Switzerland

Alpine Landscape: The Handegg, Switzerland

1850s
(French, 1824–1904)
Framed: 36 x 47 x 5.5 cm (14 3/16 x 18 1/2 x 2 3/16 in.); Unframed: 26.8 x 37 cm (10 9/16 x 14 9/16 in.)
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

In 1851, Gérôme decorated a vase for Emperor Napoleon III of France which was offered to Prince Albert of England and is now part of the Royal Collection at St. James’s Palace, London.

Description

This painting depicts a mountain peak near Handegg, a village just south of Lucerne, Switzerland. Tall fir trees reach upward from the dark foreground toward the light, which illuminates the sky and snowcapped mountains. Rising like church steeples, the trees almost touch the top of the canvas, conveying a feeling of spiritual striving. This expression of romantic, almost religious sentiment inspired by the power and beauty of nature is surprising for Gérôme, one of the leading artists of academic realism, a style distinguished by firm, precise drawing­.
  • Mme Chantal Chanuot, Paris, France
    (Tanagra Gallery, Paris, France)
    1978-1980
    Noah L. Butkin [1918-1980] Cleveland, OH by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1980-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Argencourt, Louise d', and Roger Diederen. Catalogue of Paintings. Pt. 4. European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 288-289, Vol. I, no. 103
  • Stories From Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).
    Year in Review: 1980. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 24-July 19, 1981).
  • {{cite web|title=Alpine Landscape: The Handegg, Switzerland|url=false|author=Jean-Léon Gérôme|year=1850s|access-date=26 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1980.262