The painting is painted on the 28 November 1834, where Rørbye writes very briefly in his diary that he in the morning has painted an old hermit. Rørbye mentions the painting again on 30 November 1834, where he writes (in Danish) that he “went to Borgo St. Angelo, where I visited the old hermit that I had painted.” (Martinus Rørbye's travel journals in “Kilder til Dansk Kunsthistorie” (ktdk.dk), (Primary Sources in Danish Art History) by MA and PhD in art history Jesper Svenningsen and published by the The New Carlsberg Foundation).

Thorvaldsen, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of Martinus Rørbye, 1981, no. 89.

Exhibited: Kunstforeningen 1838. Kunstforeningen, “Fortegnelse over M. Rørbyes arbejder”, 1905 no. 57. The Nivaagaard Collection & Ribe Art Museum, “Martinus Rørbye. Det nære og det fjerne. Under sydlige himmelstrøg”, 2014–2015, cat. no. 3, ill. p. 241 in the exhibition catalogue.

Provenance: The artist's estate auction 1849 no. 18 (here desribed as 'A Roman hermit. Rome' and wrongly dated 1832), here acquired by Gottlieb Collin (1806–1885) on behalf of Kunstforeningen. Won by lottery at Kunstforeningen by General War Commissioner Peter Saabye (1784–1859) in 1850, his auction 20 December 1858 no. 12 (bought-in), his auction 30 January 1860 no. 270. Widow L. Rasmussen, Holte (1905). Merchant Louis Cordosa, his auction at Charlottenborg, 7–8 December 1914 no. 51, ill. p. 7. Bank director Ove Ringberg, his auction, Winkel & Magnussen auction 24, 1924 no. 651, here acquired by Commissioner Bruun. Bruun Rasmussen auction 418, 1980 no. 138, ill. p. 59. Bruun Rasmussen auction 763, 2006 no. 2062. The collection of Louis Nielsen (2014–2015).