The support given by leading families brought major benefits to her art works. Amalie later found herself required to make compromises within her art. Amalie was dependent on commissions from the Bremen haute-bourgeoisie. A new wave, represented in Bremen by Arthur Fitger, drew inspiration from classical, historical and mythological themes. In contrast, the Hanseatic merchant patriarchs preferred to take their queue from the Dutch Golden Age paintings. Those traditions were consciously aloof from "luxurious, purposeless" art, and in Bremen found their outlet, above all, in portraiture. Bremen's business elite surrounded themselves with art that they could identify as "necessary". Amalie exhibited three portraits as early as 1850, at a major art exhibition at the Bremen Art Museum (""Kunsthalle Bremen""), and her work featured regularly at subsequent exhibitions until 1874. Her artistic legacy is dominated by portraits for leading Bremen families, and she could not avoid the forced adoption of conservatism on the art scene in Bremen. The time and energy that she had to devote to commissioned portraits and teaching work left her creative efforts artist confined to a parallel secondary career. As the years passed, Amalie became aware that her artistic career had fallen short of her hopes. She began to withdraw from the public eye. Her friend and admirer, the well-regarded artist Arthur Fitger wrote, "Amalie Murtfeldt became ever more distant from the wider public in her final years, as her sensitive spirit became less keen than hitherto on exposing her art to the judgment of the general public. But for the few people who had the good fortune to be permitted access to her studio, for those chosen ones, who have the joy of owning one of her works and being able to encounter it afresh each day, came the appreciation of how far she had perfected her talents, restlessly striving with the passing years." On June 28, 1888, aged 60, Amalie, who had been weakening, died. Her grave is located in the Riensberg Cemetery. Fitger delivered a telling appreciation of Amalie's talents in a speech at her funeral. He stressed the harmonious coming together of human and artistic qualities that she was able to bring to her work, thanks to her unusually sensitive personality. In 1889, approximately a year after her death, a commemorative exhibition of her works was presented at the city's Art Museum (""Kunsthalle Bremen"") at Fitger's request.