Village scene by Sterio Károly (Karl), painter and graphic artist. Born Újmoldova, Hungary (Moldova Nouă, Romania), 1822 or 1823; died Pest (Budapest, Hungary), June 4, 1862; Greek Orthodox. Son of a mine manager. Greek origin. S. stud. 1838–42 at the Vienna Fine Art Academy with L. Kupelwieser and then continued his training in Munich with Wilhelm v. Kaulbach. After study trips through Italy, France and England, S. settled in Pest, where he worked particularly well with his light, harmonious color treatment watercolours (portraits and genre paintings), which make up the larger and more important part of his oeuvre, became known. At the beginning of the 1850s, S. often stayed in the artists' colony in Szolnok, where he also met Pettenkofen. The idyll created there. village genre paintings are influenced by Biedermeier. S. also dealt with current historical topics, such as the events of the freedom struggle of 1848 or the entry of King Franz Joseph I and Empress Elisabeth in Buda Castle (1857). His most important works, commissioned by the church, include the interior design and the iconostasis (1857–58) of the Pest Serb. Church. S., who also emerged as Z.'s illustrator and as a lithographer, is one of the outstanding masters of the Hungarian bourgeois art with his balanced, composed and precisely drawn images. Romance. Works by S. include: in the Magyar Nemzeti Galéria and the Kiscelli Muz. in Budapest and in Smidt Muz. in Szombathely.

Literature: Prof. H.Fuchs "Die Österreichische Maler des 19 und 20 Jahrhunderts", Vienna, 1975. ThB XXXII, 1938, 3 s ;  MagyFestAdat, 1988.
Inscription: signed and dated (1)848 lower left.

Technique: matted and framed  watercolour on paper.

Measurements: unframed w 5 1/2" x h 4" (14 x 10 cm), framed w 10 2/3" x h 8 7/8" (27 x 22,5 cm)

Condition: in good original condition.