Dutch artist Allaert van Everdingen was commissioned by a wealthy merchant, Hendrik Trip, to travel to Norway and Sweden in 1640-44, where his tasks included documenting the Julita estate’s cannon foundry. After Everdingen returned home, Nordic landscapes became his speciality. Identifiable locations in his works are rare, as they are instead a synthesis of his impressions and emphasise wilderness and drama, an effect that is reinforced through the staffage of small human figures.