It was intended that the boy would become a lawyer, but in 1851 at the age of fifteen he suffered a physical and mental breakdown. Diagnosed as consumptive, given only a short time to live, he was allowed to spend his remaining days at his leisure, drawing and painting. Left to his own devices he regained his health and decided to pursue a career as an artist. [Wikipedia] This painting was among one of his very first. (http://godsandfoolishgrandeur.blogspot.nl/search?updated-max=2014-11-19T07:00:00-08:00&max-results=10)