Elisabeth Jerichau Baumann was born in Poland, but the family fled to Germany, and she studied in Düsseldorf. While studying, Baumann dreamt of Italy. In 1845–1846 she left for Rome where she met her future husband the sculptor Jens Adolf Jerichau (1816–1883). They married in 1846 and in 1849 they moved to Copenhagen. They had nine children together, but this did not prevent her from painting or travelling abroad, e.g., to North Africa, Turkey and to Rome, where the couple had a studio.

Elisabeth Jerichau Baumann was quite an unusual female painter who worked with a broad range of painting genres - including large figure paintings - a demanding subject, primarily devoted to the male painters at the time. She both worked with exotic motifs from her many travels and national topics. Her national works were particularly popular in Denmark, where the spirit of society and the art scene was characterized by a passion for everything Danish, national, and historic. Elisabeth was allegedly the first European woman who was allowed to paint from harems in Turkey and Egypt.