This picturesque mid-19th-century oil painting by British artist Edmund John Niemann (1813-1876) depicts a river view illuminated by the lazy golden hues of an evening sun.Wispy clouds, tinted pink, glide across a graduated sky as a lone sailboat progresses upriver. A clutch of proud Scots pines, gathered like old friends, stretch and break through the distant horizon. It�s an evocative scene capturing nature at her most alluring.Niemann was the son of a German banker who initially followed in his father�s footsteps before pursuing an artistic career. Within a matter of years, he was exhibiting prolifically at the Royal Academy and the British Institution. It�s remarkable that, given his evident skill, no records exist relating to his formal training.His greatest inspiration seems to be taken from the works of John Constable and JMW Turner. These two formidable artists were the frontrunners in a quest to establish landscape painting as a distinguished and worthy subject. Tu...