Provenance: Private Collection, Switzerland Acquired from the above by the present owner

ABOUT THE WORK

Dominador Castañeda, a close contemporary of Fernando Amorsolo, would travel with the master artist as well as the likes of Irineo Miranda and Jose Pereira to paint countryside scenes. Their chosen subject matters often echo each other, but Castañeda deviated from Amorsolo’s style as he used cooler hues in contrast to the latter’s warm color palette and chiaroscuro technique. Painting one’s first impression is also of primary importance for the painter, an advice passed on to his son during their landscape trips and painting sessions together. Bukid has a distinct atmosphere brought about by Castañeda’s cool palette and intimate take on a rural scene. The intensity of tropical light that Amorsolo utilized is not present in this piece. Instead, Castañeda achieves a darker yet calming imagery with his signature majestic clouds, trees and foliage, and local subject at work rendered in a classicist dictum, painting likened to tuning an emotional cord.