An Avalanche in the Alps

An Avalanche in the Alps
Artist	Philip James de Loutherbourg
Year	1803
Type	Oil on canvas, landscape painting
Dimensions	111 cm × 160 cm (44 in × 63 in)
Location	Tate Britain, London

An Avalanche in the Alps is an 1803 landscape painting by the French-born British artist Philip James de Loutherbourg.[1] Painted in the emerging style of romanticism it depicts an avalanche in the mountains of the Alps.[2] Loutherbourg adds narrative to the painting by having tiny figures in the foreground recoiling from the impending avalanche.[3]

It was one of two depictions of avalanches that Loutherbourg produced around this time, but he had long depicted storms and other natural disasters in his work.It was exhibited at the Royal Academy's 1804 Summer Exhibition at Somerset House and was quickly sold to the art collector John Leicester.[4] Today it is in the collection of the Tate Britain in Pimlico, having been acquired in 1965.[5]

References

1. Andrews p.135
2. Morawińska p.50
3. Pipes p.212
4. O'Rourke p.54
5. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/de-loutherbourg-an-avalanche-in-the-alps-t00772

Bibliography

• Andrews, Malcolm. Landscape and Western Art. Oxford University Press, 1999.
• Morawińska, Agnieszka . Romanticism. Dom Polski, 1999.
• Murray, Christopher John. Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760-1850, Volume 2. Taylor & Francis, 2004.
• Pipes, Alan. Foundations of Art and Design. Laurence King Publishing, 2003.
• Preston, Lillian Elvira. Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg: Eighteenth Century Romantic Artist and Scene Designer. University of Florida, 1977.