A review of the Swedish painter Gustaf Cederström‘s work is like flipping through an action-packed history textbook (it makes sense that Cederström first wanted to join the military like this father). He did, in fact, become a low-ranking infantry while attending classes at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts. At the age of 25, he resigned from the military and pursued art full-time. His big break came eight years later at the Exposition Universelle (1878). There, his painting Bringing Home the Body of King Karl XII of Sweden earned him a medal; the work itself was purchased by the Russian Grand Duke.