Provenance: Bruun Rasmussen auction 277, 1972 no. 248, ill. p. 59.

The harlequin ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus) is breeding by streams in North America, western Russia, Greenland and Iceland. It is a short-distance migrant that winters on the coast and is therefore rarely seen in Western Europe and never seen in Denmark.

In the summer of 1925, Johannes Larsen took part in a birding expedition to Greenland organised by stockbroker and ornithologist Eiler Lehn Schiøler (1874–1929). Larsen was to produce illustrations for Lehn Schiøler's large set of books “Danmarks Fugle” (The Birds of Denmark), and during the expedition he made several sketches and drawings. The other participants on the expedition were the ornithologist Finn Salomonsen (1909–1983), sea minemaster Joh. Møller, illustrator and zoological conservator Henning Scheel (1889–1970) and guide and interpreter John Møller (1867–1935).

During the expedition, Johannes Larsen wrote on 22 June 1925 in a letter to his wife Alhed (in Danish): “[...] We've had an awfully good time here on board. But I'm still looking forward to the trip up around the fjord here, it looks magnificent here, and there must be lots of harlequin ducks inside the fjord, it's one of the most beautiful and strangest diving ducks, which I am very excited to see alive.” (“Klar blaa Luft, let Bris fra N. Johannes Larsen. Dagbøger fra fugleekspeditionen i Grønland 1925”, by Malene Linell, Theis Vallø Madsen and N. Jens Gregersen, 2019, p. 71. (Also “Kilder til Dansk Kunsthistorie” (ktdk.dk)).

After returning home, Johannes Larsen, in addition to the illustrations for “Danmarks Fugle”, also made several watercolours and oil paintings of the nature and bird life he had experienced.