The Russian landscape painter Ivan Fedorovich Choultsé was born in Petrograd (now St Petersburg) around 1877. He studied painting under the court painter Constantin Krighitsky and was himself elevated to court painter to Tsar Nicholas II.

Choultsé travelled extensively throughout Europe, Asia, North Africa and the Arctic regions. He explored the world and developed his own realistic style, spectacular subjects where the canvases glow with light. The painting presented in this auction is a dramatic view of the North African landscape. A lone camel driver stands still in the shade while the intense light colours the mountain range on the horizon a fiery red.

After the Russian Revolution, Choultsé emigrated to Paris and in 1923 he began exhibiting at the Salon des Artistes Français. Although Choultsé continued to paint scenes from his homeland, he also made several inspirational trips to Switzerland. He was fascinated by the mountainous landscape of the St Moritz area, especially in winter.