1796
oil
canvas
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
Mount Athos Carved as a Monument to Alexander the Great is a 1796 oil by Pierre Henri, a French Romanticism work, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
The painting shows Mount Athos carved as a monument to Alexander the Great. It's an oil on canvas work from 1796. The artist tried to add moral content to the landscape, which was not common at that time. He was influenced by earlier artists who did this too. You can learn more about this style by looking at the work of Pierre Henri de Valenciennes.
Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes, a leading landscape artist in late-18th-century France, sought to elevate the art of landscape to the level of history painting. In the hierarchy of subjects set by the French artistic establishment, the painting of inspiring religious and historical narratives was placed higher than the imitation of nature. Valenciennes followed the 17th-century precedent of Nicolas Poussin by imbuing his landscapes with moral content. This work and its companion, Alexander at the Tomb of Cyrus the Great , address questions of fame and mortality through episodes from the life of…
James Hunt (died 1801), London, offered for sale, Christie’s, London, February 5, 1802, lot 62, bought in [according to Maria Wilson of Christie’s, letter of January 9, 1996, to Larry Feinberg, in curatorial files]; Hunt family, London. Reverend George Augustus Frederick Hart (died 1872), M. A., Vicar of Arundel, Tower House, Arundel, Sussex; by descent to his niece Catherine (Mrs. John Lord); sold at Tower House, Arundel, Sotheby’s, May 20–21, 1873, lot 130, to G. Fry for £36 [British Museum annot. cat.]. Alderman Philip Spowart (died 1945), Berwick-upon-Tweed, from c. 1937 [according to…
Art Institute of Chicago, The Art of the Edge: European Frames, 1300–1900, October 17–December 14, 1986, cat. 56.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes (6 December 1750 – 16 February 1819) was a French painter. A neoclassicist artist, he was influential in elevating the status of En plein air (open-air painting).
See the richer artist page
