We were delighted to see Angelo Abrate’s (1900–1985) Mont Blanc from Lago Chérouit, Val d’Aosta, Italy featured in the Antiques Trade Gazette during our annual Peaks & Glaciers exhibition. Painted in oil on panel, the work looks towards the spectacular south face of Mont Blanc from Lago Chérouit above Courmayeur.
The article highlighted an important part of William Mitchell’s research into Alpine paintings: determining the exact terrain and vantage points represented by artists. Identifying these locations not only establishes precisely where a picture was painted, but also helps to build a then-and-now record of the Alps, showing how glaciers, slopes and valleys have changed over time, sometimes as a result of human intervention.
In his introduction to the Peaks & Glaciers catalogue, William invited those travelling in the Alps and other regions represented in the exhibition to help identify the precise locations of its various landscapes. Of Lago Chérouit, William wrote:
“Today, it is easily accessible by a telecabine lift from Courmayeur and its view to the north, across the wooded Val Veny is spectacular. Seen from this side Mont Blanc’s Brouillard and Innominata glaciers and ridges give the enormous mountain a Himalayan character.”
The article also noted William’s appointment as Keeper of Pictures to the Alpine Club and his involvement in an expedition to the summit of Mont Blanc with contemporary artist James Hart Dyke. During the expedition, Hart Dyke recreated two sunset scenes originally painted on Mont Blanc by the artist and mountaineer Gabriel Loppé (1825–1913) in 1873. The resulting paintings were subsequently exhibited at Cromwell Place in South Kensington, London.
