This expressive early 20th-century oil painting by German artist Emil von Varennes-Mondasse (1881-1949) depicts a landscape with cattle and dramatic sky.Little is known about the career of Varennes-Mondasse, which is unusual given his ability. He trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and was the grandson of painter Johann Voltz (1817-1886). Alongside his artistic endeavours, later in life, he inherited the family estate at Penzing Castle in Bavaria. It’s believed he was of Huguenot descent.Here, in this rare piece from 1910, he’s captured a turbulent sky above a rugged pastoral landscape. An inscription on the reverse refers to a ‘Thunderstorm Mood’ and the ground seems particularly sodden. Working quickly, he’s daubed the cattle in with a few careful marks and the reflections are particularly masterful. It’s such a shame that he didn’t produce more work as this is reminiscent in many ways of studies by the French Barbizon School painters who were the first to truly emb...