Alpine Landscape: The Handegg, Switzerland

Alpine Landscape: The Handegg, Switzerland — Jean-Léon Gérôme. 1850s.

Medium: oil on fabric. Dimensions: Framed: 36 x 47 x 5.5 cm (14 3/16 x 18 1/2 x 2 3/16 in.); Unframed: 26.8 x 37 cm (10 9/16 x 14 9/16 in.).

Collection record: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

This painting depicts a mountain peak near Handegg, a village just south of Lucerne, Switzerland. Tall fir trees reach upward from the dark foreground toward the light, which illuminates the sky and snowcapped mountains. Rising like church steeples, the trees almost touch the top of the canvas, conveying a feeling of spiritual striving. This expression of romantic, almost religious sentiment inspired by the power and beauty of nature is surprising for Gérôme, one of the leading artists of academic realism, a style distinguished by firm, precise drawing­.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.