While still studying at the Royal Academy of Fine Art in Copenhagen, Thorvaldsen created the occasional small portrait. This was usually drawn in fine pencil, after which Thorvaldsen made use of watercolour or gouache to colour skin, hair and dress. In this portrait, the background is hatched in pencil. The portrait is that of a Copenhagen woman, Frederike Dorothea, née West. She was the sister of two men with whom Thorvaldsen had been friends in his youth and was married to Peter Hanning Hammer, who was also one of the circle of friends.
