Joseph Farquharson, the Scottish painter, was a natural artist from a young age. His father, a doctor working in Edinburgh, was also an amateur artist and would allow his son to use his studio every weekend. He bought Farquharson his first set of paints when he was 12, and it was only a year later the budding artist would exhibit at the Royal Scottish Academy.

Born in Edinburgh in 1846, he divided his time between Scotland and London, where he set up a studio to appeal to all the wealthy patrons there. He inherited the family estate and the title of Laird from his father, and his art style was fully formed on 20,000 acres in the Scottish highlands.

Farquharson is most famous for his works portraying sheep, and his finest works often include human figures. Men and women of Scotland going about their everyday labors are frequently depicted in dramatic landscapes. Nearly all his early works were inspired by his rural surroundings, and he went on to make snow scenes his trademark. 

He was adept at capturing the warmth and light of sunrises and twilight. His paintings typically have unusual titles and are sometimes long. Many were taken from poems by Burns, Milton, Shakespeare, and Gray. Farquharson was very patriotic and well-versed in Scottish literature.

The remarkable realism of Farquharson's work can be attributed to his desire to work en plein air. This had to be done uniquely to adapt to the harsh Scottish climate. He constructed a painting hut on wheels, with a stove and a large window for observing the landscape. To achieve as realistic a result as possible when painting the sheep that frequently appear in his snowscapes, he used a flock of imitation sheep that could be placed as required in the landscape of his choice. Farquharson painted so many scenes of cattle and sheep in the snow he was nicknamed "Frozen Mutton Farquharson."