Thorvaldsen, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of Martinus Rørbye, 1981, no. M. 162.

Exhibited: Charlottenborg 1842 no. 38. Kunstforeningen, “Fortegnelse over M. Rørbyes arbejder”, 1905 no. 106. "Charlottenborg, “Udstilling af dansk Kunst fra Italien”, 1909 no. 320.

Provenance: Commisioned directly from the artist by Privy Councillor Nicolai Abraham Holten in 1839. His auction 1851 no. 45. Here acquired by merchant E. le Maire (1905, 1909). Bruun Rasmussen auction 380, 1978 no. 90, reproduced p. 33. Private Danish collection.

The much-travelled Rørbye visited Italy twice, in 1834–37 and again in 1839–41, and the studio picture here from his second trip to Italy is based on a study “Parti af torvet i Amalfi” (View of the square in Amalfi) from 1835 (no. M. 120 in the catalogue raisonné) from his first trip. That painting sold at Bruun Rasmussen auction 883 no. 139 in November 2018 to the National Gallery of Denmark for DKK 3,000,000.

Rørbye mentions the present painting several times in his travel journal and in letters home from Rome in the period from the time he began working on the painting on 5 November 1839 until he finished it on 3 April 1840.