Ransom WALKER

1833

Mont Blanc, Chinon Chateau, Part of a celebration of Byron’s life (he is in the picture)

oil on panel

83 ½ x 38 ¾ inches, inc. frame

This work is part of a celebration of Lord Byron’s life – the poet is depicted at the bottom of the composition.

Byron loved the Geneva Riviera and set several of his stories in this region, such as The Prisoner of Chillon, which was inspired by a visit to that castle. Many British writers and poets followed in his footsteps and traveled to Switzerland and the Alps.

Byron arrived in Switzerland in 1816 at the age of 28. After his mother's death, he sought the peace of mind on the shores of Lake Geneva. He first lived in Clarens and then moved to the Villa Diodati in Upper Geneva. Byron hired the services of a boatman, who took him for daily boat rides on the lake. The setting was a source of inspiration for the poet, who is said to have risen to his eccentric reputation and sauntered about armed with two pistols.

One day his boatman told him the legend of the prisoner of Chillon. Moved by the story of François Bonivard, he visited his jail cell, where you can still see Byron's name carved into a pillar. He found the inspiration for his famous poem The Prisoner of Chillon.

Lord Byron faithfully kept company with his English poet friends, who also lived in the neighbourhood. He had a passionate love for Claire Clairmont, Mary Shelley's half-sister. One stormy night, after a challenge made by Byron to Shelley and his wife Mary, she got the idea to write Frankenstein.