Pál Szinyei Merse was a Hungarian painter and art educator. He was born into a family of the old nobility who supported the Hungarian Revolution. Because of the political unrest, he attended private schools. In 1864, with the support of his parents, he enrolled at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts*, where he studied under Alexander von Wagner. Later, from 1867 to 1869, his teacher was Karl von Piloty. While there, he met Wilhelm Leibl, who introduced him to plein-air* painting. After seeing a major art exhibition in 1869, he was anxious to get to work and left the Academy.

In 1870, at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, he moved to Genoa and was inclined to stay there, but returned in 1872 at the urging of his father. Once there, ...