The works of Filipino painter Fernando Amorsolo include Rice Planting, Harvest Season and Beneath the Mango Tree. These paintings are characteristic of Amorsolo's skill in affectionately and idealistically depicting rural Filipino life. The scenes in his paintings typically draw attention to both the joy of peasant farm workers dressed in colorful native clothing and the beauty of their surroundings, reflecting the innocence and optimism of Filipinos during the colonial period.
Beneath the Mango Tree, which is dated 1952, sold for $79,918 in 2011, surpassing its estimated value by more than $15,000.
Amorsolo was known for his prolific output, producing around 10 paintings per month between the 1950s and his death in early 1972. His commercial success with paintings such as Rice Planting, which was heavily featured in calendars and travel brochures, reflected his childhood business, selling his own watercolor postcards from the age of 13. As an adult, he earned a living painting portraits of society figures, accepting commissions from foreigners as well as Filipinos. He was also paid to make altered copies of his own paintings.
Although Amorsolo is best remembered for his idyllic pastoral scenes, he was not averse to painting scenes of war and suffering, which he did during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. Some of his works from this period were displayed in Malacanang Palace in 1948.