Exhibited: Presumably “Kvindernes Udstilling fra Fortid og Nutid”, Copenhagen 1895 no. 64, here with the title “Nature morte”. Københavns Rådhus (Copenhagen City Hall), “Raadhusudstillingen af Dansk Kunst til 1890”, 1901 no. 1209. Presumably “Kvindelige Kunstneres Retrospektive Udstilling”, Den Frie Udstillingsbygning, 1920 no. 53, here, however, dated 1852 in the catalogue.

Provenance: Karl Madsen (1895, 1901, 1920). Thence by descent in the family 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. He was also the director of the National Gallery of Denmark from 1911 to 1925.