Exhibited: The Nivaagaard Collection, “Venskabsportrætter fra Rom”, 2016, Cat. No. 24, mentioned p. 44, ill. p. 43.

Provenance: Circolo Scandinavo / Skandinavisk Forening i Rom (Inv. No. A 15).

Christian Zacho was admitted to The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 1862, where he studied landscape painting. Alongside his studies at the Academy, he also received tutelage from the landscape painter Janus la Cour (1837–1909) and later from the landscape painter Peter Christian Skovgaard (1817–1875), with whom he also lived for several years while receiving lessons.

In 1872, at the age of 30, Christian Zacho traveled to Italy for a year, where he stayed with the fellow painters Anton Thiele (1838–1902), Christian Blache (1838–1920), and Otto Haslund. It was during this trip that Haslund drew his colleague and friend Zacho in Rome. While Italy became a recurring destination for many painters, it was France that became Zacho's preferred destination, as he was greatly inspired by French view of nature and the painting of it.