• As a London-based art gallery owner and independent expert, Mitchell has spent decades researching and cataloguing 19th-century Alpine art. A director of the family-run London gallery John Mitchell Fine Paintings, William has made the art of the high mountains a defining specialism, bringing renewed attention to artists whose work had long been overlooked outside alpine circles. Having climbed many of the Alps' major peaks, including Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn and the Karakoram, he understands the terrain depicted in these paintings and the conditions in which they were made.

    As a London-based art gallery owner and independent expert, Mitchell has spent decades researching and cataloguing 19th-century Alpine art. A...

    Country Life Magazine, July 2026.

  • Before Mitchell’s concentrated efforts, 19th-century Alpine art was largely overlooked by the mainstream art world. In 2001, Mitchell discovered two forgotten Loppé paintings (The Mer de Glace and the Grands Charmoz), rolled up in shipping boxes, where they had slept since an 1874 London exhibition. Recognising the mastery of these mountain paintings, Mitchell partnered with the Alpine Club in London to borrow and restore a substantial portion of their poorly preserved collection. This culminated in the inaugural Peaks & Glaciers exhibition, an annual event that has since become Britain's longest-running, specialist exhibitions devoted to the finest alpine paintings, photographs and drawings of the Alps. Each winter, Mitchell publishes the exhibition's rigorous accompanying catalogues, which are freely available on John Mitchell Fine Paintings website.

  • Before Mitchell’s concentrated efforts, 19th-century Alpine art was largely overlooked by the mainstream art world. In 2001, Mitchell discovered two...

    William Mitchell watching James Hart Dyke paint the summit of Mont Blanc.

    Before Mitchell’s concentrated efforts, 19th-century Alpine art was largely overlooked by the mainstream art world. In 2001, Mitchell discovered two forgotten Loppé paintings (The Mer de Glace and the Grands Charmoz), rolled up in shipping boxes, where they had slept since an 1874 London exhibition. Recognising the mastery of these mountain paintings, Mitchell partnered with the Alpine Club in London to borrow and restore a substantial portion of their poorly preserved collection. This culminated in the inaugural Peaks & Glaciers exhibition, an annual event that has since become Britain's longest-running, specialist exhibitions devoted to the finest alpine paintings, photographs and drawings of the Alps. Each winter, Mitchell publishes the exhibition's rigorous accompanying catalogues, which are freely available on John Mitchell Fine Paintings website.

  • ‘The overriding ambition or mission statement is to remind us how much the Alps can engage our thoughts - in all seasons - whether as climber, skier, walker or rêveur’.

    - William Mitchell, Peaks & Glaciers 2025
  • Having completed over 45 major alpine climbs, Mitchell is an experienced high-altitude mountaineer. To mark the 150th anniversary of Loppé's...

    William Mitchell watching James Hart Dyke paint the summit of Mont Blanc

    Having completed over 45 major alpine climbs, Mitchell is an experienced high-altitude mountaineer. To mark the 150th anniversary of Loppé's summit paintings, he spent two years planning a high-altitude expedition that took place in July 2022, when he accompanied British landscape artist James Hart Dyke up Mont Blanc to follow Loppé's exact 1873 route. Hart Dyke successfully recreated plein-air oil paintings directly from the summit, a feat documented by publications like the BBC, Sky News, The Guardian and New Scientist. Mitchell himself authored and published Mont Blanc: The Summit Paintings, the definitive 124-page hardcover book documenting the entire journey.

  • Furthermore, Mitchell is a member of the Gabriel Loppé Committee, contributing to the artist's catalogue raisonné and the authentication of...

    William Mitchell at the Gabriel Loppé, Artist au Sommet exhibition, 2022.

    Furthermore, Mitchell is a member of the Gabriel Loppé Committee, contributing to the artist's catalogue raisonné and the authentication of his work. The major French auction house Artcurial also appointed Mitchell as the independent expert to authenticate, contextualise, and catalogue the pieces for their 2022 landmark sale. He served as a key advisor and curator for major public retrospectives, including the comprehensive Gabriel Loppé, Voyages en Altitude exhibition at the historic Forte di Bard museum in Italy, and authored the definitive modern biography, Gabriel Loppé: Peintre-Alpiniste (2018). This book served as a major turning point in Loppé scholarship because it translated the artist's legacy into English, opening up academic interest to British and American institutions.

  • Visitors of the gallery, by appointment at 17 Avery Row, are welcome to view a selection of the latest offerings in its long-running speciality in nineteenth and twentieth-century paintings of the Alps.