Exhibited: The Royal Academy of Arts, Berlin 1878 no. 364. Here described as “”Er Kommt sicher" (Zwei italienische Mädchen). Charlottenborg 1879 no. 132. Here bought by Queen Louise for a price that today would be equivalent to DKK 275,000. The painting hung in Queen Louise's drawing room in Christian IX's Palace at Amalienborg. See interior photography by Julie Laurberg (1856–1925) from the blue chamber room i Christian IX’s Palace, Amalienborg, c. 1908–1809, where the two Italian girls can be seen on the back wall.

ARoS kunstmuseum, Aarhus “Mellem Verdener”, 2021 no. 67, reproduced p. 140.

Literature: Jerzy Miskowiak, “Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann. Nationalromantikkens enfant terrible.”, Frydenlund 2018 mentioned and reproduced as a lithograph, p. 271. Jerzy Miskowiak, “Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann”, (English/Polish text), Bosz, Polen 2020, no. 224 mentioned p. 208 and reproduced p. 209.

Provenance: Queen Louise (1817–1898) married to Christian IX (1818–1906). The painting is mentioned in the King's will and was located at Amalienborg Palace until the death of their son Frederik VIII 1912. Bruun Rasmuusen auction 133, 1961 no. 6, reproduced p. 19 (here mistakenly dated 1872). Bruun Rasmussen auction 880, 2018 no. 13, reproduced p. 27.

The painting was completed after a stroll in a park outside Porta Pia in Rome. Elisabeth Jerichau Baumann tells about the painting in “Illustreret Tidende”, 1879, no. 1022, p. 322 (in Danish): “On a window sill in a dilapidated wall, I see a woman leaning on her lovely, tanned arms, with two soft and sparkly brown eyes under dark eyebrows, with the coral amulet, protecting her against the evil eye, resting on her full bosom that billows as if it is about to burst its holster. Quite mature fruit, a strong and voluptuous girl. A younger one stood next to the adult; she did not seem to know why. Perhaps she was curious, perhaps bored? She did not wait long – he came, he saw, he conquered! I watched him walk with her, immersing themselves in the shade of the laurel alleys. Kisses were exchanged beneath the dense branches of roses and laurels.”

Elisabeth Jerichau Baumann is an artist whose talent was wide in range. Here she shows her strength in the folkloric with one of the many charming Italian genre scenes she painted.