Signed and dated 1871, this oil by Jean François Roffiaen (1820–1898) shows sunrise on Monte Rosa seen from Riffelsee, Zermatt, Switzerland.

In 1845 Roffiaen saw two paintings by Alexandre Calame at the Salon de Bruxelles. He was so impressed by them that the young Belgian was awarded a place to train in his new mentor's Geneva studio for six months. His style and subject matter remained close to Calame's throughout his life, but he travelled further afield to the Mediterranean. Roffiaen's work was admired and collected by the royal family of Belgium.

Published in Peaks & Glaciers 2019, p. 24.

As a favoured painter of the Belgian court and a direct pupil of Alexandre Calame, Roffiaen occupies a distinctive place among nineteenth-century Alpine painters – a Belgian voice within a genre otherwise dominated by Swiss, French and German artists. Collectors of Calame's circle, Belgian Romantic landscape painting, and Monte Rosa/Zermatt subjects will find this a fine large-scale example of his mature output.