German - Danish painter, who became mainly known for his landscape motifs. Born in 1896, in the German Hadersleben in North Schleswig. Eldest of six children of the roadman Nikolai Ellgaard and Laura Ellgaard, he was interested in painting from an early age. At the age of 19 he wanted to attend the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. But this did not happen, he was drafted into military service in the First World War, in which he fought on the German side. After the German/Danish vote (referendum in Schleswig) in 1920, his father and some of his siblings emigrated to the USA. He decided to stay and took the Danish citizenship. Frederik Ellgaard is best known for his oil paintings with rural idylls, which he produced in large numbers during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, such as "Plowing Farmer", "Haymaking", "Horses in the Farm" and "Grazing Horses by the River". His paintings hang in many Danish living rooms and in some Danish museums.