In accordance with an old tradition, some of the professors in the Academy of Fine Arts lived in Charlottenborg on Kongens Nytorv. Although resident in Rome, Thorvaldsen had been appointed a professor in the Academy as early as 1805. As his early return to Denmark was expected in the 1830s, an apartment and studio were kept vacant for him. The loggia beneath the domed hall in the eastern end of Charlottenborg was enclosed towards the courtyard and provided with large windows overlooking what was then the Botanical Gardens but is now the site of the Exhibition Hall. This is where Richardt has portrayed Thorvaldsen as he looks at two versions of Hebe.
