This late 19th-century oil painting by British artist Walter Waller Caffyn (1845-1897) depicts cattle by a stream near a wood. Caffyn was a Royal Academy-exhibited painter of naturalistic landscapes.Illuminated by the radiant glow of summer, verdant foliage is rendered with an array of dappled tones. On the left, two cows pause by a restful stream, their patchwork forms reflecting in the water. While on the right, the complexity of a muddy bank is handled with dexterity and careful observation of various light effects.Caffyn was a proponent of naturalism, capturing the beauty of nature as he saw it, without embellishment or contrivance. Born in Dorking, Surrey, he had inspiration on his doorstep - the picturesque rolling downs, abundant grasslands, and numerous winding rivers. Often, he�d sketch figures working the land, gathering crops and haymaking. Occasionally including farm buildings and carts laden with produce.Apparently self-taught, he arrived into art a little later than most, beginning his career as a hairdresser. But as the years passed, his style evolved and he established himself as an artist of merit. His later works are reminiscent of his contemporaries, Henry Hillingford Parker (1858-1930) and David Bates (1840-1921), and perhaps Benjamin Williams Leader (1831-1923) was an inspiration.He possessed a keen eye for the nuances of colouring, which abound in the natural world, and his compositions are often enlivened with a broad palette.In 1874, he debuted at the Royal Society of British Artists with �On the Mole at Norbury� and two years later, at the Royal Academy with �Burghfield Lock on the Kennet�.But alas, in 1897, with his stock rising, he died prematurely at the age of 47 and we�re left to wonder what he might�ve become.Caffyn is represented at Birmingham Museum, Dorking Museum and Glasgow Museum.Signed/dated in the lower right and held within a later frame.Learn more about Walter Waller Caffyn in our directory...