From 1823 until the 1840s, the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen held an annual competition in painting from living models. In 1825, five painters participated: Martinus Rørbye (1803–1848), Ditlev Blunck (1798–1854), Troels Lund (1802–1867), Louis Aumont (1805–1879) and Ephraim Gumpert (c. 1800–1837). Rørbye suggested that the model should pose as a faun and Blunck ended up winning the competition. Blunck’s friend Wilhelm Bendz (1804–1832) must have been fond of the subject because he chose to paint a smaller version of the motif without entering the competition, now at The National Gallery of Denmark (Inv. No. KMS3492).

The paintings from the model painting competitions are extremely rare today, because they, in the early 19th century, were neither regarded as salable nor worth preserving. Only very few examples have therefore been preserved and usually only from the winning artists. This example from the 1825 competition is therefore an important testimony. The painter must be one of the five mentioned, of which only Blunck's, Lund's and Aumont's competition pieces are mentioned in early 19th century sources.