Károly Markó, also known as Carlo Marco was one of the first Hungarian landscape painters. He is often referred to as "The Elder", to distinguish him from his son, Károly Markó the Younger.

In the early 1800s, although he was already interested in art, he studied engineering as an apprentice in Pest and Kolozsvár. From 1812 to 1818, after mastering his craft, he worked as an engineer in Ólubló and Rozsnyó. It was in the latter city that he produced his first paintings, modeled after those of well-known contemporary artists.

In 1818, he moved to Pest and studied to improve his drawing skills. Four years later, he moved to Vienna, where he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts, majoring in history and landscape painting. He marri...