Son of the renowned landscape painter Alexandre Calame and nephew on his mother’s side of the painter Jean Baptiste Muntzberger, Arthur grew up in a very stimulating artistic environment. He trained under his father, accompanying him on his many travels from 1860, but in addition to this natural source of inspiration he was also influenced by Oswald Aschenbach, his teacher at the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf from 1864 to 1866.

We know that Arthur travelled in France and Italy and these two small oil sketches are indubitably set in one of those two countries. A few touches of colour suffice for the artist to capture the poetic nature of Dawn and Sunset: the cold blues and greys through which we perceive the glimmer of the sun’s first rays in Dawn, and a dab or two of orangey red reflected in the sea in Sunset.