LOPPÉ (Gabriel). 1 - Lake Annecy, route de Talloires. 2 - At Menthon (Lake Annecy) 1854. Two graphite drawings with white chalk highlights, on ochre paper, 12 x 21 cm and 13.5 x 21 cm, in sheets. One of the two drawings is signed lower right. Gabriel Loppé (Montpellier 1825 - Paris 1913) was a French painter, photographer and mountaineer. He learned to paint in Diday's studio in Geneva and discovered the high mountains with the Walker family in the Oberland; from then on, his life was devoted to mountaineering and high mountain painting. Although he painted views of the Matterhorn, the Oberland and other Alpine peaks, it was to Chamonix and Mont-Blanc that he devoted most of his artistic talents; he set up a studio in his house in Chamonix and never hesitated to set up his easel as high as the summit of Mont-Blanc. He was also a pioneer in photography; more than his mountain views, it was his photos of the Eiffel Tower that established his talent as a photographer: the Eiffel Tower under construction (1888) and the superb flash of light on the Eiffel Tower (1902). Loppé, who was introduced to mountaineering by the English pioneers of the Golden Age, always remained close to the members of the Alpine Club, with whom he made numerous ascents; he was elected an honorary member of the prestigious institution in 1864. He exhibited his paintings at the Alpine Club, and sold many of them there. With his monumental work, it can truly be said that Loppé is the painter of Mont-Blanc.