Alpine Views: Alexandre Calame and the Swiss Landscape

Probably the most influential and popular Swiss landscape painter of the 19th century, Alexandre Calame (1810–1864) is renowned for his grand Alpine views. Painted with dramatic effects of light and atmosphere, these paintings were based on sharply observed details taken from close natural study and depict recognizable locations. Calame visited France, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and England, making outdoor oil sketches from which he then created finished paintings in his studio. Calame first exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1835, and his works appealed to the growing number of Alpine tourists and were purchased by King Louis-Philippe and Napoleon.
This handsome book focuses on Calame’s oil sketches––many of which have never been published in color––in addition to several paintings and related drawings and prints. With essays that discuss Calame's landscapes in the context of 19th-century trends in European art and culture, it also features works by Swiss artists François Diday, Barthélemy Menn, and Robert Zünd.

Alberto de Andrés is an independent art historian based in Lausanne, Switzerland.