Albert Jean Lafon

This watercolor view of a quintessentially Swiss mountain scene was executed by the French artist born in Berne, Switzerland, Simon Daniel Lafond. However, it masqueraded under an attribution to the obscure Albert Jean Lafon for years.
Lafond seems to have returned to the sheet to correct an earlier inscription and add “al nat.” or an indication that the sheet was made after nature, following his signature. He records that the view was taken at the cascade du Vandelbach (Wandelbach), one of the many famed torrents in the mountainous Oberhasli valley. A woman dressed in local costume of a skirt with a white blouse, red vest, and blue apron wears a vertical container used by dairymaids on her back as she crosses the stream on a plank, heading to a typical Alpine hut at the base of the scenic waterfall.
Lafond's watercolors served as the basis for handcolored etchings in a 1797 publication containing fourteen views of Switzerland, “Recueil de paysages suisses dessinés d'après nature, dans une course par la vallée d'Ober-Hasly et les cantons de Schweitz et d'Ury, par Lory, Lafond et Zehender. en 1797. Accompagné d'un texte pour servir d'itinéraire aux artistes et aux amateurs de voyages pittoresques.” The present drawing is reproduced as 'Chûte du Wandelbach, dans la Vallée d'Oberhasli.' A copy of these volume is in the British Museum, whose curators note that, “According to the title-page, the journey of the three artists took place in 1797. However, two prints (6 and 7) are dated 1796, and one plate (7) is printed on Whatman paper dated 1801 or 1804.”