H. Chr. Christensen, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of Kristian Zahrtmann, 1905, no. 54.

S. Danneskjold-Samsøe, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of Kristian Zahrtmann, 1942, no. 167. Described p. 38 as follows (in Danish): “The summer's most significant work was the Karen Brahe painting. In Rønne, his sister Elisabeth sat for him [...]. A study shows the sister sitting and writing at a table, seen against the light [...]. The main work shows her reading, but is still a variant of the profile motif with the light behind the figure. She sits alone in a high-ceilinged interior and forms a graceful silhouette, in the foreground to the right, the figure is balanced by the corner filled with, among other things, a cello. The image is deeply toned in brown, Dutch in character, gently and completely it adds to the graceful, finely executed figure, three faint red colours bring together the composition, the velvet of the chair back, the tip of the shoe and the band of the cello. The picture has probably been further darkened, but already in August, Zahrtmann writes [...]: ”...What I'm doing, it's difficult to say, soon I have one, soon another, but I think that nothing will prosper for me, and the only thing I'm really happy about is Karen Brahe, which, however, is so inhumanly dark that people ask if it's night...“.”

Exhibited: Charlottenborg 1870 no. 284. Kunstforeningen, “Udstilling af Kr. Zahrtmanns Arbejder”, 1907 no. 27.

Literature: “Kunst i Privateje”, 1945, vol. III, mentioned and ill. p. 203.

Provenance: Mrs Marta Borch, widow after grocer in Roskilde A. Borch (1905, 1907). Merchant V. Ragoczy (1942, 1945).

Karen Brahe (1657–1736) was a Danish noblewoman and book collector. In 1716, she founded the convent Odense Adelige Jomfrukloster, to which she also bequeathed her large book collection. The book collection, later known as the Karen Brahe Bibliotek (Library), is the oldest preserved Danish private library.