This early 20th-century oil painting by Danish artist Erik Henningsen (1855-1930) depicts a rural family standing before a cottage. Henningsen was an accomplished painter of genre scenes, interiors, portraits and landscapes.Pipe in hand, father stands proudly before a cottage dappled in light. His son, barefoot, looks on, while mother holds a pale. A grassy bank is rendered in a patchwork of sun-bleached dabs. The sky is crisp and wispy.Henningsen had a gift for reportage, capturing everyday scenes with a masterful array of brushwork. With little embellishment or romantic sentiment, his observations are a window into the soul - more akin to documentary photography than traditional genre painting. Upon absorbing his work, you become an eyewitness to a story as it unfolds in your mind. The characters are familiar, yet it’s not a play or drama - simply the intricate nature of life skilfully captured in technicolour.Born in Copenhagen, he initially studied at Christian Vilhelm ...