to focus on painting, although from 1905, when he moved to Sibiu, he was on a leave of absence for the same reason. During that interval, he began painting icons, which he advertised as "the only ones befitting our canon". Together with his brother Victor, Smigelschi also joined the Blaj chapter of ASTRA Society, a Romanian nationalist association. As described by art historian Gheorghe Vida, Smighelschi's other work of the period is a transition from Romanticism to Symbolism, with frequent lapses into Naturalism and academic art. Specifically, he belongs to the branch of Symbolism cultivated by Dörschlag, Hans von Marées, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Max Klinger, and Béla Iványi-Grünwald. Art historian Mihai Ispir views Dörschlag and Smigelschi as the two benchmarks of a transition from "the neoclassical 'ideal' to Symbolist 'idealism. Curators Sabin-Adrian Luca and Dana-Roxana Hrib describe Smigelschi's painting as bridging "temperate naturalism" and "influences from that branch of Symbolism which descends from German romanticism". As the 1890s went on, Smigelschi also became increasingly drawn to Art Nouveau, and was marginally affiliated with the Baia Mare School of painting, which saw him crossing paths with Ipolit Strâmbu. Beginning in 1898, he undertook trips to Munich, Dresden, Vienna, Budapest, Florence, Rome and Ravenna, studying the local Renaissance art. He bunked with Robert Wellman and Arthur Coulin at Cervara di Roma art colony. Following this sojourn, Smigelschi expanded his Symbolist range. Initially, his paintings of Abaddon became more macabre; circa 1900, however, Smigelschi introduced a merrier derivation of Symbolism, exploring the motif of "wicked fairies", which has roots in Romanian folklore. Reportedly, Smigelschi's interest in Byzantine art first manifested itself in Italy, when he sketched after the monuments of Ravenna. He was, however, opposed to the revival of Byzantine mosaics by Miksa Róth and others, describing the technique as "minute and menial", with the inevitable loss of artistic quality between the artistic design and the finished product. He focused his neo-Byzantine attempts on more pictorial techniques. In 1903, he had contributed icons and inconostases for twelve Transylvanian churches, including German Lutheran ones in Pretai and Rumesdorf. Also that year, he held his second exhibition in Blaj, featuring exclusively religious works, including modelli for painting the Greek-Catholic cathedral. That October, his third exhibition took place in Sibiu, with 71 secular paintings and drawings. Among the displays was a 7 x 5 m carpet woven by peasant women from Maramureș based on his