How does Mermaid (Jerichau-Baumann) elucidate its Artist's background?
Elisabeth Baumann was educated at the art academy in Düsseldorf in 1838–1845. She then went on a study trip to Rome, where she met the Danish sculptor Jens Adolf Jerichau. They immediately fell in love, were married in 1846, and lived in Rome until the birth of their first two children in 1847 and 1848. The revolution in 1848 prompted first Elisabeth and then her husband to move to Denmark.The inspiration for the mermaid paintings came partly from the mermaid in the coat of arms of her home town Warsaw and partly from Hans Christian Andersen's 1837 short story The Little Mermaid. The Jerichaus first met Andersen in Rome and maintained a close friendship with him which lasted the rest of their lives. Andersen was the godfather of their daughter Caroline Elisabeth Nancy, later mostly known as Agnete (or TiTi), probably inspired by the folk tale Agnethe and the Merman, who was born in 1853. In 1856, Jerichau-Baumann painted a watercolour of Agnethe and the Merman as an illustration of the Danish folk song.Jens Adolf Jerichau created a small clay model of a mermaid in a pose rather similar to that of the mermaids in his wife's paintings, but since it is undated, it is impossible to determine who was inspired by whom.
godfather Rome Warsaw The Little Mermaid Mermaid Jens Adolf Jerichau Agnethe and the Merman Düsseldorf Hans Christian Andersen mermaid Danish