Beginnings in Annecy

Beginnings in Annecy 

When Gabriel Loppé moved to Annecy with his wife in 1851, he found a town in the midst of transformation, with a very different appearance following redevelopments carried out by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. The development of sanitation, building of docks and laying of roads were all significantly changing the architecture. Like several other artists of his generation, Loppé’s eye was drawn to old buildings. His drawings of old houses in Annecy from this period painstakingly documented architectural heritage that was threatened with destruction. Some of his graphic works were intended for reproduction by engraving. Among these, several views of the French and Swiss Alps, executed by the artist at high altitudes, are related to the collection La Savoie historique, pittoresque, statistique et biographique (Historical, picturesque, statistical and biographical perspectives of Savoy) undertaken by Joseph Dessaix in 1854. The landscapes depicted, with contours that appear blurred, exude a calm, bucolic atmosphere inspiring reverie.

In summer, the Loppé couple often stayed at Chamonix, where the painter discovered the rocky outcrop of Grands Mulets at an altitude of 3000 metres. As the site of the first mountain refuge at high altitude, it provided a vantage point from which he could study the glaciers, before returning to the studio to produce his finished works.