Jean François Roffiaen ( 1820 - 1898 )

Sunrise on Monte Rosa seen from Riffelsee, Zermatt, Switzerland.


Sunrise on Monte Rosa seen from Riffelsee, Zermatt, Switzerland.


oil on canvas 28½ x 46½in (72.5 x 118cm) signed and dated 1871 Peaks & Glaciers 2019, p. 24

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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 families of Europe and this magnificent dawn view of Monte Rosa is probably the prototype version for a large two-and-a half metre canvas, dated 1875, now in the Brussels museum together with several other pictures by him.

Jean François Roffiaen