Dale William Nichols (1904-1995)

In 1960, Dale Nichols moved to Antigua, Guatemala, a small city about an hour southwest of Guatemala City, and that same year married Maria del Carmen Gandara, a native of the area. The couple remained in the region until the late 1970s, and the artist even gave Norman Rockwell a tour when his fellow artist visited the Hotel Antigua in 1972.

While living in Guatemala, Nichols frequently produced paintings of Lake Atitlán, a volcanic caldera approximately three hours northwest of Antigua, which is the deepest lake in Central America. The present work likely depicts a view of Atitlán with the sun shining through the clouds onto Volcán San Pedro in the distance.