A nude woman doing her hair before a mirror

Formerly, young Danish artists had been unable to receive instruction in painting at the Academy which only offered courses in drawing. However, with inspiration from France, in 1822 a school of painting was established which made up for these shortcomings. From 1833 on, the students were even given the opportunity to paint studies of female models. Eckersberg positioned the model, and often joined his students in painting the model. Usually, he would finish his work by placing the model in an intimate scenery so that the study was transformed into a small depiction of an everyday situation. The model is Florentine. She was Eckersberg’s favourite model at the time, and she can be recognized in several of his nude studies.