In 1839, Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg introduced his famous summer sessions to his students, where they could draw and paint after naked female models for the first time. At the model sessions in 1840 and 1841, one of the models was Florentine, whom Eckersberg depicted in several very beautiful and sensual works. In July 1841, she was modelling at another session, and the first position from this year is known from a signed and dated painting by Ludvig August Smith (1820–1906). The model's pose and drapery on Smith's painting are largely identical to the model in the present painting. This indicates that the painting comes from the same session. In addition to Smith, Carl Dahl (1812–1865), Hans Jørgen Hammer (1815–1882) and the brothers Sally (1815–1886) and Nathan (1820–1846) Henriques all participated in the session. Therefore, it is very likely that one of these artists is the creator of this painting. Eckersberg himself did not make a work of this particular position.

Literature: “”Den nøgne Guldalder. Modelbilleder. C. W. Eckersberg og hans elever", The Hirschsprung Collection, 1994. Several works from the sessions with Florentine can be seen in the exhibition catalogue.

Provenance: Bruun Rasmussen auction 908, 2022 no. 63.