This piece is accompanied by a certificate issued by Mrs. Sylvia Amorsolo-Lazo confirming the authenticity of this lot

Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist

ABOUT THE WORK

This quietly beautiful scene, featuring several country men and women, is a remarkable example of the way in which Amorsolo succeeds in adding a magical yet realistic dimension to the most ordinary of everyday things. The whole scene is one of lightness and space, made possible by Amorsolo’s choice of site. The image of a woman cooking a meal over a fire whose orange glow intensifies the already brimming brilliance of the fields. The heart of the Amorsolo style, his dazzling colorism, has been the subej ct of much discussion. That special vibrancy with which he recreated tropic sunlight in his genres and landscapes derived from techniques he studied in the works of European masters, particularly Sorolla. The popularity of his art is easier to account for it embodies Sweetness and Light. The life he chose to portray on canvas invariably brims with good cheer, serenity, casual grace, optimism, and just what we would like to see after a hard day's grind. In his Golden Period, he had perfect control over his prodigious technical means as draftsman and colorist; he knew exactly the most attractive ways of portraying an ideal world and please just about every kind of intelligence. The painting touchingly evokes the enchanted mood that Amorsolo saw in the pre-war countryside. It suggests a rural arcadia, emphasizing not the toil of the harvest, but the carefree atmosphere of a picnic in the country, where men and women, graceful and charming, rest under the tree.