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Lot Essay
In a letter dated 15 April 2012, the granddaughter of the artist writes:
'This picture portrays a snowy landscape in the Atlas Mountains in Algeria/North Africa. My grandfather spent 4 months there in 1898 after winning a national art competition. He went there with his younger brother Gyorgy.
He went there between January and April, probably in order to make a number of sketches of spring motives for his paintings. But it was a harsh winter with a lot of snow..and he had problems painting. In these times the species of the 'Atlas-Lion' was still alive although after the French colonization this species was almost extinct.
The landscape began as a watercolor color sketch and later in his atelier in Budapest, Vastagh worked it into a painting' (fig 1).
'This picture portrays a snowy landscape in the Atlas Mountains in Algeria/North Africa. My grandfather spent 4 months there in 1898 after winning a national art competition. He went there with his younger brother Gyorgy.
He went there between January and April, probably in order to make a number of sketches of spring motives for his paintings. But it was a harsh winter with a lot of snow..and he had problems painting. In these times the species of the 'Atlas-Lion' was still alive although after the French colonization this species was almost extinct.
The landscape began as a watercolor color sketch and later in his atelier in Budapest, Vastagh worked it into a painting' (fig 1).