As part of the sale of an exceptional collection of art, to be presented at auction during the autumn season, Sotheby’s is delighted to offer a powerful and masterly landscape of Switzerland: The Summit of the Jungfrau, 1912 by the celebrated Irish painter Sir John Lavery (1856 - 1941).

The painting’s lyrical curves lead the eye up to the pinnacle whilst maintaining a sense of composure and innate design which hints at the influence of Japanese art.

The British love of the Alps dates back to the early 19th century, to Turner, Byron, Shelley and Ruskin; it was actually on the recommendation of Winston Churchill’s niece, Lady Gwendoline, that Lavery travelled to the Alpine village of Wengen for a two-month stay. The highlight of the visit was a journey up to Jungfraujoch station, an enormous engineering feat that had fortuitously opened in August 1912 – after eighteen years and a cost of twelve million francs and twenty-seven lives. Lavery was thus able to make his ascent with a full painting kit, creating a temporary studio and setting in order to make a swift sketch of the visiting party.