H. Chr. Christensen, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of L.A. Ring, 1910, no. 38 (here with the dimensions 23×31 cm).

Literature: Peter Hertz, “L. A. Ring 1854–1933”, 1934, mentioned and ill. p. 130. “Kunst i Privateje”, 1945, vol. III, mentioned and ill. p. 295.

Here Herman Madsen writes the following about the collection of director Bech and the present painting (in Danish):

“In terms of sheer numbers, Director Bech’s Collection of Danish Painting is not particularly large, but what it may lack in size, it more than makes up for in the exquisite quality of the individual works.”[...]“One artist especially well represented in the collection is L. A. Ring. Notably, there is the small painting of 'Johanne', the daughter from a farm in the tiny village of Raagelund near Odense, where Ring found refuge during a critical period in his life.”

Henrik Wivel, “L. A. Ring. Det glasklare hjerte”, 2020, mentioned and ill. p. 38.

Here Wivel writes the following about the present painting (in Danish):

“In an interior with Lars Ebbesen's eldest daughter, 'Portrait of Johanne. Rågelund' 1884, both Ring's painting style and sharply cut composition of the young, well-dressed girl bear witness to works by Manet, Edgar Degas and, looking ahead, Pierre Bonnard. In this way, Ring's works from Rågelund differ in some respects from his more overtly social realist subjects that he painted in South Zealand and outside the established social classes of Copenhagen in the mid-1880s.”

Provenance: Farmer Lars Ebbesen, Rågelund (1910). Merchant S. Iversen (1919). Shipbuilder R. Møller, Fåborg (1933). Director L. Bech, Odense (1945).

This painting’s first owner — Lars Ebbesen (1852–1927), a farmer and father of the portrayed Johanne — became a close friend of L. A. Ring and played a significant role in both his artistic development and political engagement.

Henrik Wivel writes among other things the following about Lars Ebbesen in “L. A. Ring. Det glasklare hjerte” (in Danish):

"In the summer of 1883, H. A. Brendekilde began visiting the Funen farmer Lars Ebbesen in Rågelund outside Odense. Lars Ebbesen belonged to the first generation of farmers who, through the Grundtvigian movement and the newly self-assured political party Left [Venstre], had secured a prosperous operation at his farm Petersminde. He was active in local politics and involved in the local rifle association, aligning himself with the political opposition to J.B.S. Estrup's authoritatian Right [Højre] government. IInspired by the folk high school movement, Lars Ebbesen invited young artists to stay at his farm and shared with them not only political views and Grundtvigian Christianity, but also his family life. Petersminde became a kind of small colony for young artists, among them the Funen painters H. P. Clausen, Søren Lund, and Julius Paulsen. When Brendekilde arrived in 1883, he generously invited Ring to join him. Ring spent extended periods at Lars Ebbesen’s farm in 1883, 1884, and 1885 — sometimes with Brendekilde, other times alone. Ebbesen became a close friend to Ring, and the two remained in contact, regularly visiting one another until Ebbesen’s death in 1927." (pp. 34–35).

During his various stays at Petersminde, Ring painted portraits of Lars Ebbesen and his family, often giving the works to them as gifts — such as the portrait of the daughter, Johanne, seen here.