This French glacier has given rise to countless works of art in the past 200 years, including Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Paintings, photographs and modern satellites reveal how the site has dramatically transformed since Shelley was first transfixed by it.

In the 1800s, above the town of the Chamonix in the French Alps, there was a sublime sight known as the "sea of ice" that provoked both awe and a touch of dread. Those who climbed up the mountain trails to see it would encounter an icy, barren expanse of white, dark blue and aquamarine. Visitors described a scene akin to a torrent of waves and whirlpools frozen in time; an unrelenting frost extending boundlessly into the mountains.

Many artists at the time painted this icy sea, but one of the most striking images is an early photograph: a gloomy daguerreotype taken by an assistant of the writer John Ruskin in the 1850s (above).

This was the "Mer de Glace" glacier – a mass of compacted snowfall, creeping down from the Mont Blanc massif. For centuries, it has remained the largest glacier in France, and was one of the first to be studied scientifically.

Sadly, it has shrunk profoundly since then – more than 2.5km (1.6 miles) since the mid-1800s – and as I discovered following a recent visit, it is barely visible from the same point that the Ruskin photo was taken. The melting is accelerating, and by 2050, scientists anticipate it could retreat by at least 2km (1.2 miles) further, even with stringent emissions reductions.

Unlike many glacier retreats around the world tracked via remote sensing or ground measurements, the Mer de Glace is unusual because its changes have been captured in painting, photography and literature. Over the centuries, many writers and artists have come to feel overwhelmed by its scale.

And among the most notable was a young Mary Shelley. In 1816, the writer had yet to publish Frankenstein – the book she'd later call her "hideous progeny" (most recently adapted into a film directed by Guillermo del Toro). But her hike to the glacier would prove to be a major influence, providing her with the setting for a pivotal scene between Viktor Frankenstein and the creature.

By comparing Mary and her contemporaries' descriptions with paintings and photography across the years, it's possible to see how this once-stunning sea of ice has transformed.

In the 1800s, the Mer de Glace was so big that it almost nosed into settlements in the Chamonix valley below, as this painting from the 1820s shows:

Around this period, taking the "Grand Tour" across Europe was fashionable, which meant

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