This early 20th-century oil painting by Norwegian artist Fredrik Borgen (1852-1907) depicts a river view with grazing cattle. Borgen was a skilled painter of naturalistic landscapes who exhibited extensively, including at the Autumn Exhibition in Oslo and the Exposition Universelle in Paris.A river snakes through pasture towards a distant hill, which is a veritable patchwork of tones. Dense clouds above reflect in the silvery waterway, with flickers of white light further on. There’s a rhythmical effect to the brushwork and a certain poetry to the elements.Borgen was raised on a farm amid the rural environs of Ullensaker in Norway and was evidently blessed with a natural talent for drawing. Like so many landscape artists, he was furnished with ample inspiration in the form of nature itself.When into his late teens, a charitable employer spotted his ability and sponsored him to undertake formal artistic training. As a result, he enrolled at Johan Fredrik Eckersberg''s (1822-...