Provenance: In the family of the artist until today.

Sophie Madsen, née Thorsøe, came from an artistic home. She was the daughter of shipmaster and ship portrait painter H.P. Thorsøe (1791–1842) and granddaughter of portrait painter Peder Madsen Faxøe (1761–1840). She was a student of the flower painters O.D. Ottesen (1816–1892) and I.L. Jensen (1800–1856) and painted still lifes with flowers and fruits herself.

Sophie Madsen did not exhibit, as far as is known, during her own lifetime, but her works have subsequently been presented at the major exhibitions “Kvindernes Udstilling fra Fortid og Nutid” (The Women’s Exhibition from the Past and Present) in 1895 and “Kvindelige Kunstneres retrospektive udstilling” (The Women Artists’ Retrospective Exhibition) in 1920.

In 1854, she married the painter A.P. Madsen (1822–1911), and together they had a son, Karl Madsen (1855–1938), who later became an art historian and painter himself.