This painting depicts the gentle landscape of the foothills of the Alps, dotted with signs of human habitation, with a glimpse of the forbidding snow-capped peak of Mont Blanc in the distance. J.M.W. Turner painted this view the year after his first trip to continental Europe, when he traveled through France and explored the perilous mountain passes to Switzerland and Italy. He filled sketchbooks with his observations during that brief voyage, allowing him to continue to paint dramatic views of Alpine scenery like this over the next dozen years, even while the Napoleonic wars raging on the continent prevented him from continuing his travels.

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